Who We Are
Asociacion CALIDRIS is a not for profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Cali, Colombia. Asociacion Calidris has worked since 1989 to advance the understanding of national avifauna. Currently, we are carrying out research and education programs in different parts of the country with the goal of contributing to the conservation of this resource and the ecosystems upon which its existence depends.
Asociacion Calidris arose in 1989 when a group of students from the Universidad del Valle (A University in Cali, Colombia) biology department decided to continue the work they began in an elective course on the Ecology of Marine Birds and Shorebirds. This course was directed by Dr. Luis German Naranjo. Initially, the central purpose of Calidris was migratory shorebird research at Buenaventura Bay. As time passed and projects expanded it became necessary for the group to officially organize itself as an NGO. In 1993, after completing all legal requirements, Calidris took the title “Asociacion” and obtained its legal capacities for operation.
Asociacion Calidris has since developed and supported various movements supporting avifauna and key ecosystem conservation. Environmental education has been one of the areas of work that has expanded most dramatically with the organization’s growth. The development of such education projects has granted Calidris close relationships with communities located in important conservation locales.
Mission
To promote avian conservation in Colombia and the rest of the Western Hemisphere through research, education, and other activities contributing to this purpose.
Vision
Become a Colombian leader in the conservation of avian species and their habitats through management, research and education.
Plans of Action
Asociacion Calidris has four “Lines of Action” that enable it to develop its work at an adecuate level and come closer to achieving its vision.
1. Research / Conservation
Objective: Identify, and gather information and/or knowledge about birds and their habitats. Such information is useful to develop conservation actions for avifauna and important related ecosystems.
2. Communication
Objective: Promote awareness of our actions as much within our organization as outside it. This is accomplished through communication channels appropriate to each circumstance and objective.
3. Education
Objective: Generate strategies to understand and articulate the interdependent relationships of avifauna with the environment as a basis to promote new attitudes of value and respect for nature.
4. Management/Augmentation of Capacities
Objective: Through training and strategic alliances, strengthen administrative efficiency in leadership and the search for funds. This enables us to support the necessary procedures which accomplish our Mission and financially sustain our organization.
Accomplishments
Thanks to hard work, developed through our initiatives and projects, we can here summarize the principle accomplishments of Asociacion Calidris.
1. Construction of an information database about aquatic birds found in the Colombian Pacific.
2. Identification of the important areas for marine birds and shorebirds of the Colombian Pacific.
3. National Leadership in the ornithological investigations of coastal marine environments with emphasis on shorebirds and marine birds.
4. Ample and meaningful participation in research and conservation processes related to migratory birds.
5. National recognition in the design and implementation of educational strategies regarding birds.
6. Serving a coordinating role in the designation of Wetlands of International Importance.
7. Participation in the construction of the National Policy for the Conservation of Wetlands.
8. Participation in the construction of the National Bird Conservation Plan.
9. Participation in the consolidation of the national network of bird observers.
10. Participation in the production of the Red Book of Threatened Birds in Colombia.
11. Participation in the designation of important areas for bird conservation in Colombia (AICAS).
12. Design of a Monitoring Protocol for aquatic birds in protected areas of the Colombian Pacific.
13. Design of a Migratory Bird Monitoring Protocol in the “Reservas de la Sociedad Civil”.
14. Consolidation of the Neotropical Aquatic Bird Survey in Colombia.
15. Contribution to the designation of conservation criteria based on avifauna and organization of this information in the production of management plans for two protected areas in the Colombian pacific (PNN Sanquianga and PNN Gorgona).
16. Contribution to development of conservation planning on private lands.
17. Contribution to the knowledge of avifauna in the Colombian, Caribbean, and Orinoquia Andes.
18. Application of strategies designed to facilitate local community organization and participation in the processes of research, education and conservation.
19. Support for the academic development of new researchers through financing undergraduate thesis research and the technical training of biology students.
