Supporting a regenerative and resilient coffee and cocoa landscape in Huila, Colombia
Since 2020, Conservation International and IDH have led the Hylea Pact, a jurisdictional initiative that brings together local governments, landowners, NGOs, and international companies aiming to strengthen governance and improve environmental and social conditions in Huila's coffee- and cocoa-producing communities. This multistakeholder platform unites more than 50 stakeholders across government, business, civil society and academia in 15 priority municipalities to promote shared stewardship of the region’s resources spanning 788,000 hectares (1.9 million acres) and home to 500,000 people. The area encompasses four regional parks, buffer zones of one national park, and three moorlands. Coffee-growing areas in these municipalities account for 62 percent of coffee cultivation area in the region.
Why Huila Matters
Colombia is the world’s third-largest coffee producer, accounting for 10 percent of global supply and ranking as the top producer of washed Arabica coffee—a high-quality variety that makes up 70 percent of global coffee production. In Colombia, coffee supports more than 2 million jobs, contributing 16 percent of agricultural GDP. Huila, the country’s leading coffee-producing area, is also a biodiversity hotspot within the Andean-Amazon Transition Corridor. The region plays a critical role in providing ecosystem services and maintaining forest connectivity.
Since 2011, Huila’s coffee farming area has grown by more than 10 percent, and production has nearly doubled—yet this expansion has come at a cost. Huila has lost 25,000 hectares (61,000 acres) of forest since 2001, affecting wildlife, ecosystem services and water supply.
Huila faces climate risks: It is estimated that by 2030, approximately 23 percent of current coffee-growing areas will become unsuitable, pushing production upslope and potentially accelerating deforestation. This shift threatens the region’s ecological integrity, including 1,282 documented wildlife species—62 of which are threatened.
HYLEA Pact Goals
Goal 1
Strengthen the landscape's ecological integrity through improved spatial connectivity, ecosystem functionality, and ecosystem services preservation.
Goal 2
Support efficient production systems that are climate-resilient and have minimal environmental impact.
Goal 3
Enhance community and local organizations’ capacity to promote collaborative landscape interventions through inclusive, community-centered approaches.
Goal 4
Strengthen the Hylea Pact as a collaborative platform for integrated environmental and productive land management.
Our Supporters
Walmart Foundation
In 2025, the Walmart Foundation awarded a grant to Conservation International to help scale and strengthen the Hylea Pact. This support focuses on advancing landscape monitoring, transparency and investment readiness by enhancing progress tracking through a centralized monitoring and reporting system; supporting the development of high-integrity sustainability claims for companies; identifying new investment-ready opportunities aligned with Hylea priorities; and highlighting resilience efforts across the landscape through storytelling.
The grant also supports on-the-ground nature-based solutions, including piloting an innovative Treeline restoration model with farmers, promoting natural forest regeneration in riparian zones,; and conducting biodiversity monitoring at key sites.
To foster long-term sustainability, the grant will help determine incentives and unlock financing by assessing the transition costs to move toward regenerative low emissions production in Huila, creating a finance plan for the landscape initiative, and contributing toward the development of the Green Climate Fund AROMA program.
Planned outcomes include monitoring 396 hectares of restored land, improving protection of 300 hectares of forest, planting 35,000 trees, and generating baseline emissions factors for coffee in Huila. This work will also support efforts to unlock US$ 100 million in public finance through the Green Climate Fund AROMA program to advance coffee sustainability across four countries.
Previously, in 2023, the Walmart Foundation made an initial grant to support the development of the Hylea Pact. That investment enabled the formalization of governance structures and supported the restoration of 261 hectares and improved management of an additional 500 hectares of forest.
Starbucks
Since 2020, Starbucks has supported forest protection and restoration efforts across seven municipalities participating in the Hylea Pact. As the first Conservation International partner to invest in restoration and conservation within the Andean-Amazon Corridor, Starbucks played a catalytic role in launching the initiative, enabling Conservation International to engage local governments and communities on sustainable land management practices.
To date, Starbucks’ involvement has helped to restore 279 hectares with the planting of more than 140,00 native seedlings. An additional 1,000 hectares of forest have been placed under improved management through area isolation, conservation agreements and community-led biodiversity monitoring.
Hewlett Packard (HP Foundation)
Between 2023 and 2024, the HP Foundation supported the implementation of a biodiversity conservation initiative in the Andean-Amazonian Corridor, spanning 27,500 square kilometers (10,600 square miles) across four departments (states), including priority municipalities in the Hylea Pact. More than 3,000 species were recorded— 89 of them considered threatened— in this area, including 258 endemic and 88 migratory species.
Key outcomes included a strategic biodiversity plan for the corridor, a regional communications strategy, and implementing a pilot incentive scheme supporting 91 sustainable coffee producers. Cartographic modeling informed priority restoration zones, and governance capacity was strengthened across 37 municipalities, involving over 150 stakeholders.
Walmart, Westrock Coffee and Falcon Coffees
Recognizing the importance of resilient coffee production as well as the unique opportunity to leverage an existing large-scale landscape initiative, in 2024, Walmart in partnership with Westrock Coffee and Falcon Coffees — launched a place-based initiative in Timana, Colombia, with support from Conservation International. The project aims to help improve sustainability and resilience of smallholder coffee farms by providing training and technical assistance and implementing agroforestry practices. In addition, the project will track farm-level greenhouse-gas emissions and integrate Timana into the Hylea Pact initiative.
To learn more or get involved, please contact Raina Lang