Colombia is a megadiverse country. It is also a country with a difficult history. War has been around for more than 60 years. With the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, Colombia opened up as never before, presenting a rich, unexplored and under-exploited territory. It also was the starting of the post-conflict struggle.
Paradoxically, the conservation of natural habitats in Colombia was facilitated by the war conflict, preventing territories from being invaded by development and deforestation.
Colombia’s Post-conflict Scenarium
Tourism has been one of the sectors that have benefited the most from the peace agreement, especially nature tourism.
One of the economic benefits of the peace agreement in Colombia has been that local communities have an alternative business opportunity in bird watching tourism.
The most remarkable result was the bird-watching expansion to areas, that were formerly unsafe, such as Caquetá and Putumayo.
However, not everything has been rosy. This time of transition has cost us, especially due to the lack of proper administration and governance in the territories that were liberated from the conflict.
The Environmental Cost of the Post-conflict
Sara Colmenares holds a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in Ecology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a Master’s degree in Botany from the same institution. Her doctoral research focused on palm ecology in the Atlantic Forest, supported by the Rufford Foundation conservation grant.
A published researcher in the Brazilian Journal of Plant Physiology and a member of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), Sara has presented her work at international conferences across Latin America and beyond. She was awarded the COLCIENCIAS “Virginia Gutiérrez de Pineda” fellowship, one of Colombia’s most competitive academic distinctions for young researchers.
Sara founded the Sula nature tourism brand in 2018, applying her scientific expertise to develop birding and wildlife experiences across Colombia’s six natural regions. Her fieldwork took her from the cloud forests of the Andes to the Amazon basin, the Pacific coast, and the plains of the Orinoquía. She combined deep ecological knowledge with firsthand experience to create content that is both scientifically accurate and practically useful for nature travelers.
She holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the National University of Colombia, where she also taught plant ecophysiology. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and English.