From Cartagena del Chairá, Caquetá, Colombia, Irma Álvarez Barrera participates in community efforts focused on seed recovery, reforestation, and environmental education. At the 12th Pan-Amazonian Social Forum (FOSPA), held in Puyo, Ecuador, she shared the challenges facing the Colombian Amazon and renewed her commitment to defending life and the land.
“I am a sower of life, a seed restorer.” This is how Irma Álvarez Barrera introduces herself—a member of community initiatives supported by the social ministry in the Cartagena del Chairá region of Caquetá, Colombia. Her testimony, shared during the 12th Pan-Amazonian Social Forum (FOSPA), reveals how the defense of the Amazon often begins with simple acts: recovering a seed, planting a tree, caring for water, or teaching a child to protect nature.
Álvarez participates in initiatives linked to FUNVIPAS, the Foundation of the Apostolic Vicariate of San Vicente del Caguán for Social Ministry, through which she supports community initiatives focused on caring for our common home, environmental education, and strengthening communities.
One of the cornerstones of her work is seed collection alongside families and, especially, with children. The process aims to teach them how to identify a seed, care for it, help it germinate, and finally plant it in the ground. This work is complemented by efforts in recycling, water and energy conservation, reforestation, and the promotion of practices that help protect ecosystems.
An Amazon Threatened by Deforestation
During the interview conducted as part of FOSPA, Irma noted that one of the main challenges facing Cartagena del Chairá is deforestation, primarily associated with the expansion of livestock ranching and crop cultivation.
“Deforestation is rampant, and while we do our part, sometimes it’s not enough,” she explained, referring to the difficulties communities face in carrying out reforestation efforts in certain areas.
Her own experience highlights the complexity of this reality. She recalled that, years ago, a community initiative sought to establish an “ecological tunnel” by planting trees. However, the project faced obstacles in accessing the territory, and later, some of the planted trees were destroyed.
In the face of these situations, Álvarez insists that defending the Amazon requires perseverance, community organization, and environmental awareness. For her, every seed also represents a possibility for the future.
“I Am Not Alone”
One of the lessons Irma takes away from FOSPA is precisely the certainty that the people and communities defending the Amazon are not isolated.
Meeting with representatives from different Amazonian peoples, organizations, and countries allowed her to recognize that there are many people committed to caring for the territory, even when their efforts are not always visible.
“It’s knowing that I’m not alone,” she said. For her, it is especially meaningful to meet people interested in learning about the seeds—asking how they are sown, where they can be planted, and which species are native to each territory.
FOSPA thus became a space to share experiences and strengthen a conviction that underlies her daily work: caring for the Amazon is a collective task that requires all its peoples and communities.
A Church Close to the Communities
Drawing on her experience in Caquetá, Irma also highlighted the Catholic Church’s support for rural communities. She noted that, through pastoral networks present in the villages and towns, initiatives are being promoted with women, nurseries, community gardens, and environmental education activities.
Recycling also serves as a tool to strengthen communities’ capacities and generate creative alternatives for caring for the land.
For Álvarez, this support is essential in a region where the defense of nature is closely linked to the daily lives of families.
Among the challenges she identifies for continuing on this path, she particularly highlights the protection of water sources and wildlife in the face of practices such as wildlife trafficking and the exploitation of natural resources.
“Without water, there is no life”
At the conclusion of her participation in FOSPA, Irma Álvarez left a message for the peoples of the entire Amazon: caring for the land is caring for life.
“Let’s take care of it because it’s the most beautiful thing we have here in South America. Let’s take care of our water sources—without water, there is no life,” she said.
Her voice, rooted in the communities of Cartagena del Chairá, thus joins the many voices heard in Puyo during the 12th FOSPA. These voices remind us that the defense of the Amazon is not built solely in the halls of power, but also by communities, families, women, children, and those who, like Irma, recover a seed every day and entrust it once again to the earth.
Because planting a tree is also planting hope; recovering a seed is recovering memory; and caring for water is defending the future of the Amazon.
The Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) continues to accompany and amplify these voices from the Amazonian territories, convinced that listening to those who inhabit and defend the Amazon is also a way of walking together in caring for our common home.