Viewed from above, the Colombian Amazon stretches out like an endless carpet of dark green. Hidden within this vast vegetation are small family plots called chagras, where Indigenous households cultivate the land using traditional methods that honour both the forest and the animals that inhabit it.
These gardens yield yucca, bananas, pineapples, lemons, mangoes and a variety of native fruits from the rainforest. Several of them — such as açaí and Brazil nuts — are celebrated globally as nutrient-dense superfoods.
We visit Ligia Valero Ahué at her small farm near Nueva Esperanza, one of 26 mainly Indigenous communities assisted by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Colombia’s Amazonas region. Standing amid the lush greenery and heavy humidity, she recounts the dramatic drought that struck in 2024 — a story that contrasts sharply with the thriving environment around us.
Ligia transforms the yucca from her chagra into fariña — a flour used to accompany meals or thicken broths — and sells the extra production in local markets. But last year, everything changed.
“The drought lasted throughout August. The yucca and bananas withered completely. We couldn’t even make fariña because we lacked water,” she recalls.
The extreme lack of rain also drained Amazonian rivers, in some areas dropping as much as 10 metres. Communities were cut off, and fishing — a crucial source of food — collapsed. “My son and I went to a spot that always had plenty of fish,” Ligia says. “But it was totally dry. Dead fish were everywhere, covered in flies. It was heartbreaking.”
Nearby, her neighbour Ruperto Ahau Cerrón proudly shows the cacao trees he has cared for alone since his wife passed away. As he points to the delicate blossoms sprouting from the trunks, he also shares his concerns. “When the heat becomes unbearable, the cocoa flowers fall before forming pods,” he says.
To help farmers and fishing families withstand these climate-driven crises, WFP and its regional partners are developing multiple resilience strategies — including insurance systems that release emergency funds to local governments when specific weather triggers occur.
This approach is already functioning in other parts of the Amazon. Through collaboration with UNEP and UNDRR, rainfall-based insurance programmes have been introduced in several Peruvian districts and in Bolivia’s Pando department.
These areas have recently endured severe weather. In Cobija, Pando’s capital, river levels rose dramatically, causing widespread flooding. No lives were lost, but many households lost crops, animals and homes.
“For a mayor, it is devastating to watch floods rise while having no resources to assist people,” says Cobija’s mayor Ana Lucía Reis. Now, the municipality is protected by insurance that will unlock funds once rainfall reaches certain thresholds, allowing emergency support to be delivered swiftly.
Knowing this brings visible relief to Reis. “It gives me peace of mind,” she says. “We will be able to support families when the next disaster strikes.”
Urban centres such as Cobija also play a vital role in preserving the rainforest by creating markets for wild Amazonian fruits — products that depend on healthy forest ecosystems rather than cleared land. Strengthening climate resilience in these cities, including through insurance, helps safeguard livelihoods and reduce pressure on the forest.
Venezuelan agronomist Genis Olivero, one of the few remaining members of the Warekena Indigenous People, has seen how climate extremes and social upheaval reshape both forest and city life. “Food systems must evolve. Climate and societies are changing, so our knowledge must adapt too,” he warns. “If we fail to act together, the wisdom that has sustained this region for generations could vanish.”
The Amazon, stretching across multiple countries, functions as one interconnected ecosystem — extraordinarily rich but highly vulnerable. Limited infrastructure, especially poor access to markets, means many farmers survive at the very edge of subsistence.
WFP works closely with local communities to design solutions that blend new technologies with ancestral knowledge, ensuring they are both sustainable and culturally rooted.
“The Amazon is our home — it provides our food, our medicine, the air we breathe,” says Dalvis Ramos, WFP Colombia’s Project Officer and a member of the Tikuna-Máguta People. He describes the deep bond between Indigenous communities and their environment.
“The support WFP brings helps our communities face new challenges while honouring the responsibilities passed down from our ancestors: protecting our Amazon so that future generations can enjoy it as we have,” he says.