Rewriting the history of Andean Bird-Life
Rewilding the Clouds
“... and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forever more, because lineages condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.”
— Gabriel García Márquez, One hundred Years of Solitude (1967)
Species reintroductions
Our ambitious mission? To reintroduce up to 7 candidate bird species to the San Antonio Cloud Forest, western Andes of Colombia, near the city of Cali.
Project Goals I
Restoring broken forest connections
Rewilding the Clouds will re-establish broken forest connections, stitching back together the San Antonio Cloud Forest and the Farallones de Cali National Park. By creating this ecological lifeline, we will give wildlife—both plants and animals—new pathways to thrive.
Project Goals II
Reintroducing extirpated bird species
At the heart of our project is the reintroduction of bird species that have been lost to the region for
decades, such as the Cauca Guan, Chestnut-crowned Antpitta, and Toucan Barbet.
spatial analyses
Restoring broken forest connections
With landscape analyses and high-resolution imagery, our research team detected a 5 km deforestation gap in a critical sector between the Farallones National Park and the San Antonio Cloud Forest. This sector is the priority for restoring this broken forest connections by building a biological corridor.
Global significance
The San Antonio Cloud Forest is part of the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot and a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA). By protecting and restoring this region, we will contribute to global biodiversity conservation efforts.
Local Benefits
Rewilding the clouds will have cascading benefits for the entire ecosystem, including improved water regulation and enhanced carbon sequestration. These ecosystem services will benefit wildlife and more than 3 million people living downstream in the city of Cali.
An inititiative led by
Fundación Ecotonos
Founded in 2014 by a passionate group of biologists, Fundación Ecotonos has been at the forefront of biodiversity conservation in the tropical Andes. Over the years, our work has led to groundbreaking discoveries, including the identification of new species of flora and fauna, with our research featured in top-tier academic journals such as PNAS and Conservation Biology.Our team is led by Dr. Ruben Dario Palacio, PhD in Conservation Biology from Duke University, USA.
