This study demonstrates how ecological restoration can serve as an educational pathway to transform society-nature relationships in conflict-affected regions. Through a community-based program in Colombia's Caquetá Department, local "scientists" successfully trained peasants in restoration practices, resulting in 71 nursery gardens, 400,000 native seedlings, and 550 hectares of restored land across 277 farms.
Caquetá Department, covering 8,896,500 hectares in the Colombian Amazon, faces the highest deforestation rate in Colombia at approximately 52,563 hectares per year between 2000-2017. The region has a complex socioecological history marked by three distinct settlement phases: indigenous occupation for over 22,000 years, Spanish agrarian colonization since 1900, and new colonization with urbanization since 1950. This historical progression transformed the indigenous relationship with nature from sustainable coexistence to extractive exploitation, leading to massive deforestation, livestock introduction, and eventual conflicts involving guerrillas and illegal coca cultivation.
The current landscape is dominated by cattle grazing on exotic grasses (Brachiaria spp.), but nutrient-poor soils result in progressive productivity decline. The region exemplifies the challenge of rural populations living in biodiversity hotspots requiring restoration while lacking access to quality education programs that connect to their regional socioecological context.
The program employed "bioregionalism" as its environmental education approach, focusing on reconnecting regional nature with local cultures to help residents "reinhabit" their environments and develop place-based relationships. The teaching framework utilized "significant learning" theory, which requires problematic situations, meaningful educational materials, and intrinsic motivation rather than simple fact presentation.
The innovative structure centered on creating "local scientists" (LS) - a group of 15 local people with technical rural experience and deep understanding of environmental and productive problems. Selected through snowball sampling, these LS served as educational multipliers, bridging the gap between researchers and local peasants. This approach ensured cultural relevance and peer-to-peer learning dynamics essential for adult education in rural contexts.
Program Structure and Implementation
The "School of Local Scientists" developed five core pedagogical units with printed materials covering: (1) soils as living systems, formation, and restoration; (2) ecological restoration as a farm planning tool; (3) river basin restoration and riparian forest functions; (4) participatory monitoring and citizen science; and (5) social organization and community strengthening.
During 2018, the program reached 23 rural localities with participation ranging from 8-70 peasants per community. Each locality received five educational meetings throughout the year, one for each pedagogical unit. The educational approach integrated multiple learning strategies including critical thinking activities (such as soil knowledge games), creative thinking exercises (farm planning simulation games using cards representing different land use alternatives), and practical activities (seed collection, seedling production, and field visits).
The program achieved significant tangible results. In 2019, participants established 71 nursery gardens on their farms using their own labor, producing 400,000 seedlings of 21 native forest species. These included species adapted to different topographies: rolling hills (lomerío), mountains, and floodplains. Notable species included Cedrelinga cateniformis (Achapo), Guarea grandiflora (Bilibil), Inga nobilis (Guacharaco), and various palm species like Iriartea deltoidea (Palma Bombona).
The restoration activities covered 277 farms across 550 hectares, implementing various strategies including forest enrichment, riparian ecosystem restoration, silvopastoral systems, and agroforestry approaches. These practical interventions served as "living classrooms" for ongoing knowledge acquisition and community learning.
Transformative Learning Outcomes
The program documented significant conceptual changes across five categories. First, peasants transformed their understanding of natural resources from viewing water and soil as "inexhaustible" to recognizing ecosystem limits and the permanent potential for soil productivity loss. They developed awareness of river basin importance and native forest complexity.
Second, while participants initially believed native forests couldn't provide adequate income, the educational process helped them recognize that short-term profitability from coca crops or cattle grazing leads to soil degradation and productivity decline. They identified potential profitability in agroforestry and agroecological systems using traditional ecological knowledge combined with technical assistance.
Third, participants expressed interest in monitoring concepts and proposed indicators for different restoration systems, though they considered this knowledge for future rather than immediate application. Fourth, they acquired practical procedural knowledge in seed collection, seedling production, and restoration techniques. Finally, they developed new attitudes about social organization, recognizing the disconnect between formal education and community ecological needs while strengthening relationships between LS and peasants for continued collaboration.
The program exemplifies "reciprocal teaching" where LS served as both educators and learners. While LS gained access to new technical knowledge through pedagogical materials, they also learned from peasant experiences and traditional knowledge. Peasants benefited from peer-based learning that respected their existing knowledge while introducing new concepts and practices.
The educational materials served as "catalyst mediators" for interaction between different knowledge systems. The program successfully challenged culturally inherited rationalities causing environmental degradation while empowering local communities to question and critique existing land use models.
Rather than focusing solely on hectares of forest recovered, the program prioritized changing the utilitarian and extractivist relationship with nature established through the region's historical context. The main strategy emphasized restoration-based education and strengthening local capacities for future sustainability.
The restored plots now function as community meeting places that consolidate established networks and promote new knowledge generation. The relationship between peasants and LS, established during 2017-2019, has proven strong enough to support educational process continuity through 2020 and beyond.
Key Takeaways:
This study contributes to the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2031 goals by demonstrating how diverse educational approaches can be integrated within restoration activities. It shows that ecological restoration-based education offers opportunities to expand environmental learning for all ages, build new relationships with nature, establish new social connections, and simultaneously contribute to peace, social justice, and ecosystem restoration.
The Colombian Amazon case provides a replicable model for other tropical regions facing similar challenges of rural populations in biodiversity hotspots requiring restoration while lacking access to contextually relevant education. The program demonstrates that local communities can be empowered to become restoration knowledge multipliers when provided with appropriate educational frameworks that respect existing knowledge while introducing scientific concepts and practices.
The study emphasizes that ecological restoration should be understood not merely as a technical intervention but as a pathway toward ecological literacy that teaches people to reinhabit their territories sustainably, even in regions affected by social conflicts. This integrated approach addresses both immediate restoration needs and long-term social transformation necessary for sustainable human-environment relationships.
The Bottom Line
This study demonstrates how ecological restoration can serve as an educational pathway to transform society-nature relationships in conflict-affected regions. Through a community-based program in Colombia's Caquetá Department, local "scientists" successfully trained peasants in restoration practices, resulting in 71 nursery gardens, 400,000 native seedlings, and 550 hectares of restored land across 277 farms. The program shows that ecological restoration-based education can empower local communities to become knowledge multipliers while simultaneously addressing both ecological degradation and social conflicts.
This technical article describes an innovative ecological restoration-based education program implemented in Colombia's Caquetá Department from 2017-2019, designed to address both environmental degradation and social conflicts in the Amazon region. The study demonstrates how education can serve as a bridge between ecological restoration and community empowerment in post-conflict territories.