Born and educated in Andean Highlands (Bogotá, Colombia). Studied sociology and anthropology in ... more

Born and educated in Andean Highlands (Bogotá, Colombia). Studied sociology and anthropology in the East Coast of the United States (Boston, Massachusetts). Lived and worked with indigenous communities in the Amazon Rainforest for 17 years, helping them implement their fundamental rights to cultural identity and territorial autonomy and their strategies for the protection of rainforest ecosystems, by strengthening their own grassroots local and regional microprojects (intercultural education, health, self-government projects and sustainable economic alternatives). Married anthropologist Maria Victoria Rivera, who joined work with emphasis on issues of gender with indigenous women, leading to help them establish their own projects for collective production and alternative/fair trade of non-timber forest products. Active member of NGOs and networks like The Gaia Foundation, COAMA (Amazonian Consolidation Programme), African Biodiversity Network and Earth Community Global network. Went back to the university in Bogotá for a masters degree in regional development and participatory planning. Trustee and director for Colombian NGO Fundación Capacitar, which sets major consulting emphasis on bio-cultural diversity and complex thinking, and focuses on designing appropriate methodological schemes in narrative systematization, participatory planning and process evaluation to alternative educational and environmental projects. Currently living with wife and three daughters in farm outside Bogotá. less