Copa Airlines Colombia and Acción Verde sow Life in the Amazon

  • 2,000 trees were planted at lake Tarapoto, birthplace of the gray and pink dolphins of the Amazon, within the framework of the airline's environmental and social responsibility actions.
  • The Copa Airlines Colombia reforestation campaign already includes over 13,000 trees of Colombian native species, planted in the country's different environmental reserves.

Bogota, March 7, 2011. – With contributions from Copa Airlines Colombia, its passengers and the Aviatur Group, and in the course of the "La Reforestación ya tomó vuelo (Reforestation has already taken off)" campaign, the airline started the plan for reforestation and planting on the banks of Lake Tarapoto (Colombian Amazon), within the Ticuya Indigenous Reservation.

 For the success of this project we had the committed cooperation of the indigenous authorities and ecological groups in the region, thanks to which 2,000 trees total were planted, between timber-yielding and native Amazon fruit trees.

The Acción Verde Foundation (a specialist in reforestation with native species) in association with the Omacha Foundation (specializing in research into the pink dolphin), have, with these contributions, embarked upon a complex animal and human food security project, by planting native trees (some in danger of extinction) within the Reservation's territories, which has an important local and global impact.

The fruit trees planted offer food for the communities and, at the same time, attract fish who, in turn, attract the pink dolphins which have migrated due to the extensive logging carried out in the region. Thus, with native fruits, the food chain of the communities and of the Amazon fauna is recovered. Therefore, each tree sown has local, environmental and global repercussions, as well as a social impact and aids in the recovery of traditional science.

The " The Reforestation has taken off" campaign, which has been working for over two years now, has already planted over 13,000 trees of Colombian native species, acquired for planting and maintenance over a three year period , on environmental reservations in Colombia and in world heritage locations, including Leticia, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Marta, San Andrés and the El Tuparro in Vichada, thanks to the voluntary donations that passengers can make at the ticket offices of Copa Airlines Colombia and Aviatur.

Acción Verde publishes quarterly reports on the number of trees planted and assigns serial numbers to those trees. These planting reports also appear on that entity's website –www.accionverde.org.co-, where you can find the exact place each tree was planted, by Department, Municipality and name of the Nature Preserve and by geo-referenced location, along with a photo of the tree.

In this manner, and within the framework of its Social Responsibility policies, Copa Airlines Colombia reiterates its commitment to the environment and continues moving forward with a set of actions aimed at making air transportation services compatible with environmental conservation, promoting this industry's sustainable development.