Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Network for Ecological Products

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BOGOTA, Mar 11 2006 (IPS) - Indigenous, Afro-Colombian and peasant communities have joined together to create a Colombian network for environmentally friendly production, with the aim of producing native food and crafts to be sold locally as well as for export. The 70 micro-businesses are financed by the Dutch government and the Fund for Environmental Action and Childhood, which learned of the project through the non-governmental organization Tool Box, which contacts the communities that produce ecological products and facilitates improvement of their working conditions.

Guillermo Rodríguez, director of the Sustainable Development Network, a participant in the project, told Tierramérica it has a four-year budget of 2.98 million dollars.