Colombia reports 13,2 million hectares under other effective conservation measures at the biodiversity COP

26 October 2026

Colombia's Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible announced at the seventeenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Yerevan in Armenia, that about 13,2 million hectares of the country are now recognised as OMEC, the Spanish abbreviation for other effective area-based conservation measures. That is 6,3 per cent of the national territory counted towards Target 3 of the country's Biodiversity Action Plan, which seeks 30 per cent by 2030. The latest recognition added 13.342 hectares across 27 areas, of which about 85 per cent are private initiatives, 11 per cent mixed and 4 per cent public, and takes Colombia from 67 to 94 OMEC areas. Two of the new areas are Mena: Guardianes de Agua y Vida in Tauramena, Casanare, nearly 8.000 hectares of Andean and sub-Andean forest with springs and microbasins, home to the Andean bear, and the Reserva Natural Privada Aguila Arpia, 2.586 hectares along the Guaviare River in Barrancominas, Guainia, run by Fundacion ProAves. OMEC areas are counted separately from the Sistema Nacional de Areas Protegidas. Fabio Arjona is the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development.