Speakers

Rodrigo Botero García has been working for the Amazon for 30 years. From different civil society organizations and public entities, he has led the defense of the territory and the communities of this vast region that we share 9 countries of South America. She is a zootechnician from the National University of Colombia with a Master's Degree in Sustainable Development of Agrarian Systems, agrarian and environmental sciences from the Javeriana University.

For 12 years, he has directed the Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible (FCDS), an organization focused on the construction and promotion of territorial peace with a focus on rights and which has a program that specializes in monitoring and monitoring deforestation and its causes, especially in the Amazon region. The FCDS also promotes the sustainable use of natural resources in a comprehensive manner, including access to land rights. Botero is recognized for promoting the community forestry model for rural communities, as well as processes for recognizing land rights for peasants and indigenous people.

He was in charge of the Amazonia-Orinoquia Region Territorial Directorate of National Natural Parks between 2000 and 2010, from where he led the expansion of the Serranía de Chiribiquete National Natural Park, today a Mixed Heritage of Humanity, and promoted the protection of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation . The FCDS is considered nationally and internationally as one of the civil society organizations that has worked to position deforestation on the public agenda of the country and the Amazon basin. In 2019, he was recognized by Semana Magazine as one of the 10 most influential leaders in Colombia, thanks to the denunciation and direct fight that he has led against the current deforestation processes in the Amazon. Botero is also an Honorary Member of the Chicago Museum's Keller Center and a 2021 Fellowship of the Mulago Foundation. He also works as an occasional columnist for national magazines and media.