In Colombia, a community wins fight to protect a slice of paradise
In the remote west of Colombia, where virgin rainforest and pristine beaches collide, a group of politicians and businessmen dreamed of building a massive port on the Pacific.
It took almost two decades, but a small community managed to sink the project, betting on a different development model to preserve their slice of paradise.
In June, UNESCO declared the Gulf of Tribuga a biosphere reserve, putting a definitive end to plans to build a deepwater port and some 80 kilometers (50 miles) of highway through the untouched jungle.
The remote region, with no roads linking it to the interior, boasts a bounty of plant species, while its warm Pacific waters are a breeding ground for humpback whales and turtles.
In a region where unemployment stands around 30 percent, and poverty affects some 63 percent of inhabitants, the project promised "a lot of jobs," recalls Marcelina Morena, a 51-year-old Columbian of African descent.
"But on the other hand, it was going to bring us destruction of the mangroves, the land, everything. So we said no to the port."
Wearing rubber boots and gloves, she clambers through thick mangrove branches in search of pianguas, a mollusk considered a delicacy in Ecuador and Mexico.
The remote area of the western Choco department boasts a bounty of plant species, while its clear and warm Pacific waters are a breeding ground for humpback whales and turtles.
Some 18,000 Afro-Colombians and members of the Embera Indigenous community live in the rich environment of the Gulf of Tribuga, an area with no roads connecting it to the rest of the country.