Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

Bunkwimake Forest Garden

Indigenous cultural heritage to the local communities

This project sees the creation of an edible forest garden in Bunkwimake, a remote community within the mountains of Sierra Nevada.

There has been substantial deforestation in the area, which this rewilding will address whilst simultaneously increasing food security for 300 local families, along with children who attend the local boarding school. A diversity of fruits, seed and wood trees will be planted, combined with medicinal shrubs and over 40 species of plants.

Forest Maker Jaguar Siembra

10,000

TREES

HECTARES

SPECIES

The site of Bunkwimake Forest Garden in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

Forest Partner

“To revolutionise our work and create greater impact we need to unite with indigenous peoples around the world; they have preserved incredible ancient wisdom that is invaluable for the restoration we are doing. We are honoured to have the opportunity to weave this approach into our project with SUGi. This is the first seed and we hope that giant forests will be born from this intention and prayer.”

— Jaguar Siembra, SUGi Forest Maker

Forest Planting

DATE: 17.04.2023

Seed Collection & Nursery Creation

Collecting of Guandul (Cajanus cajan) a bean shrub that is a food source

Transplanting forest seedlings of Pink Oak () and Aguacatillo (Persea schiedeana)

Jaguar Siembra Team with Community in Bunkwimake

The Forest Garden:

Ancient agricultural concepts will be brought together with syntropic methods, resulting not only in the cultivation of food but important community bonds too. The project will also engender a deeper understanding of indigenous cultural heritage. Combined, this will sustain the nourishment of both people and planet well into the future.

The methodology will be documented in order to develop a scalable model that can be used by other indigenous communities, thereby regenerating more degraded areas and creating widespread abundance through food, community, bio-economies and cultural heritage preservation.