Silencing the guns, not the birds: the EU and Colombia on a mission to make 'Peace with nature'

The Bahia Malaga Natural Park, located on the Colombian Pacific coast, is home to one of the world's richest areas of biodiversity. Around 1,400 species have been identified in this large bay, where turtles swim alongside the whales that come to breed each year.

‘Our ancestors always told us that our duty was to preserve this land and leave it in good shape for future generations', explains Miller Valencia, a resident of La Plata, as he takes us by boat to the island where this community of people of African descent has lived for more than 300 years.

The community is famous for its fisherwomen who catch piangua, a shellfish that is highly prized in Colombia. The women of the community skilfully make their way through the dense mangrove swamps and plunge their hands into the mud at low tide to harvest this precious seafood.

But this age-old activity is under threat. ‘Our grandparents used to catch 200 dozen pianguas in two or three hours. Today, we only catch 20 dozen at most. That's a lot less’, explains Rosa, a member of the Raíces Piangüeras fishing association.

Using a piangometer, she measures the shellfish to ensure that only adult specimens that have already reproduced are removed. But Rosa explains that the inhabitants of other regions are not so careful.

‘They collect all the shellfish, large and small. If they are no longer able to reproduce, it means that supplies will be exhausted’, says Rosa, who believes that ‘this natural resource will provide us with a living for a long time to come, if we take care of it’.

The European Union is supporting these women (known as ‘piangueras’) through its local sustainable development programme, which involves Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in the management of