Protecting Pacific Forests and Addressing the Impacts of El Niño: GCF Task Force Jurisdictions from the Pacific Regions of Peru and Colombia Advance Regional Alliance
On July 22, 2026, Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force) members and observers from the Peruvian and Colombian Pacific regions met to solidify their GCF Task Force Pacific regional alliance and to continue developing a joint workplan aimed at increasing collaboration, organizing technical exchanges, and developing joint technical, policy, and funding plans to build a New Forest Economy that protects both forests and communities.
This engagement grew out of a Collaboration Agreement signed at the GCF Task Force 16th Annual Meeting held in Caquetá, Colombia this past May. Signatories included the newly voted-in GCF Task Force members and observers from the Pacific departments of Colombia (Cauca*, Chocó*, Nariño*, and Valle de Cauca), their regional partnership initiative (Región Administrativa y de Planificación del Pacífico, RAP Pacífico), the GCF Task Force Secretariat, and Action for Forest. The Collaboration Agreement was designed to strengthen knowledge exchange, capacity building and the implementation of best practices in forest governance in the departments of the Colombian Pacific and to integrate this region into the larger block of Colombian members from the Amazon and the full GCF Task Force network of 54 member jurisdictions from 11 countries. Building on the Collaboration Agreement, GCF Task Force members from the Peruvian Pacific (La Libertad, Lambayeque*, Piura, and Tumbes), organized in the Macroregional Platform “Bosques del Norte”, and the Mexican Pacific (Chiapas, Jalisco, and Michoacán) agreed to partner with the Colombian departments to establish this Pacific alliance.
On behalf of Governor Luis Francisco Ruíz Aguilar of Caquetá – Chair of the GCF Task Force Network for 2026 – senior advisor and GCF Task Force delegate Lorenzo Vargas welcomed the group and encouraged the joint work that will follow.
Among the themes discussed were the current El Niño, which is very likely to become a Super El Niño and is already starting to have significant impacts in both countries (as well as the world). The Environmental Secretariat of the Government of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, shared a tool for collecting information on the actions being taken by the member jurisdictions of the GCF Task Force in the Pacific region to manage the Super El Niño. Based on this information, the goal is to launch subnational cooperation projects to strengthen the response to the effects of this climate phenomenon.
The following topics were also discussed: forest conservation efforts in the participating jurisdictions; sustainable supply chains and bioeconomy development; and capacity building and financing mechanisms to benefit communities.
Participants
Participating in the discussion were Environment Secretaries and technical experts from the following GCF Task Force member and observer jurisdictions, as well as long-time coordination and technical partners:
Colombia
- Caquetá
- Cauca*
- Chocó*
- Valle del Cauca
- RAP Pacífico
- Action for Forest (technical partner)
Peru
- La Libertad
- Piura
- Tumbes
- Profonanpe (technical partner)
GCF Task Force Secretariat
- Global Secretariat
- Mecanismos de Desarrollo Alterno (GCF Task Force coordination in Peru)
Next Steps
The GCF Task Force Secretariat, RAP Pacífico, and Action for Forest will build out a draft workplan in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for future webinars, technical exchanges, and partnership opportunities as this dynamic alliance of GCF Task Force Pacific jurisdictions continues to grow!
* GCF Task Force observer jurisdictions