Its purpose is to involve local communities in the restoration process, depending on the socioeconomic environment prevailing in the area, with special attention to the aspirations of local communities in terms of the future they want for the space they inhabit. Therefore, in the implementation of the restoration strategy, local communities made up of children, youth and adults were involved in activities such as:
(i) Identification of the areas to be restored.
ii) Construction of community nurseries for the propagation of high Andean forest species. iii) Participation in the implementation of isolation in areas under pressure from agricultural activities, in order to encourage the use of the region's own natural resources that contribute to valuing the existing biodiversity and ensure the long-term continuity of the project, taking into account the important knowledge that the community has about their region, its history of use, the location of the species and in some cases their propagation.
- Funding available from the National Government and international cooperation projects (GEF Mosaic Galeras Heritage Fund - KFW).
- Community ownership of the restoration work, guaranteeing the continuity of the process.
- Recognition of the communities regarding the existence of a protection figure.
- Knowledge of the communities and the work team of the territory and its ecosystems.
- The ecological restoration strategy developed by the SFFG has involved the participation of the communities from the beginning, generating ownership in the conservation of the protected area's ecosystems.
- Scientific knowledge and ancestral knowledge of the communities should be considered in the ecological restoration processes.
- The strengthening of community nurseries has allowed the protected area to have adequate plant material for the implementation of ecological restoration actions, both in the interior and in the zone of influence. These nurseries also function not only as a source of plant production, but also as an experimental site for native species of interest, with the goal of creating temporary banks of germplasm and seedlings of native species that allow for their characterization, selection, and management. In the future, this will allow the design, knowledge and adaptation of the simplest techniques for the massive propagation of the different Andean species.