In the middle of the Farallones de Cali National Natural Park, a hidden paradise awaited. The armed conflict put the inhabitants of Dagua, one of the municipalities that make up the park, through many and very difficult situations. For many of the families, growing coca became the way to put food on the table and survive in the midst of the war. After the Peace Accords, the doors of Dagua were opened and it was possible to swim again without fear in the crystalline waters of its rivers. Tourists began to arrive to discover the paradise that the Anchicayá river basin guards. Caring for and preserving this area, while allowing a legal livelihood for the locals who once planted coca, is the raison d'être of CORTUCÁN, an ecotourism cooperative made up of residents of the town of La Cascada and which was strengthened with the Contingency Plan in support of coca eradication families .
In this chapter of 'Sembradoras de Paz' , Sandra and Dora, belonging to CORTUCÁN, tell us how they are making ecotourism a sustainable life option for their families, while preserving the water and biological wealth of this territory that provides water to several neighboring municipalities, including the city of Santiago de Cali.
Like the members of CORTUCÁN, women who substituted coca crops throughout Colombia are building a different life for themselves and their communities. The web series Sembradoras de Paz collects the testimonies of participants in the Contingency Plan that supports families linked to the Comprehensive National Program for the Substitution of Illicit Crops (PNIS), and which today have become engines of sustainable development in their territories.
The Contingency Plan in Support of Coca Eradication Families is financed by the United Nations Multidonor Fund for the Sustainability of Peace in Colombia , and implemented by PASO Colombia in coordination with the Policy for Peace with Legality of the Presidential Council for the Stabilization and Consolidation .
