English version of the interview

8:46 minutes in the morning. In "Avanza el Cambio" we continue to highlight the work of those Colombians who continue to work for different initiatives that allow us to develop, one of them is about the environment, its protection, defense and restoration. Well, that is the story we are going to know about Rosalía Largo Hernández, an environmental leader who for more than twenty years, more than two decades, has been working for the restoration of a mountain in Villa de Leyva, that is in Boyacá.

E: Rosalía, good morning, welcome to Avanza el Cambio.

R: Good morning everyone, happy to be here in this program.

E: Rosalía, let's start by telling us the story, how did your passion for restoring this mountain begin, what motivated you?

A: Well, in 2003 there was a very strong fire in the whole area of Villa de Leyva, in the mountain, and then I already belonged to an environmental group called "GEA" and we started to plant trees but then we had to take care of them and we had to be very attentive to them, then I started to work, to work, and I saw that the work was very big; I started there fourteen years alone and then more people started to come to support.

I: After the devastating fire that occurred in 2003 in Villa de Leyva, what was the first step you took to restore the mountain, that is to say, at what point did you say: "we definitely have to act"? Tell us a little bit about that moment and that context, please.

R: It was very sad to see the mountain gray, all burned, then it started to rain and all that ash and sticks went to the rivers; There were very sad floods because it ended up in the San Francisco and San Agustín streams, so here as all this was an Inderena reforestation, it was pine trees, eucalyptus and acacias, then later we started to make a successional process, to plant herbs, bushes, trees and mosses, ferns and all this, but then it hurts, I mean, it hurt me a lot to see the mountain like that and especially to see everything burned.

E: Rosalía, let's talk about those techniques that you use to be able to do the restoration on this mountain.

R: Well, it is an ancestral technique that I learned with the Embera Chamí from Sicuedó, Risaralda/ Pueblo Rico with the Nasa in Cauca in Tierra Adentro and with my godfather who raised me, I am an orphan since I was six years old, but he raised me in the indigenous reservation of Cañamomo and Lomaprieta, The village is called Sipirra, I am from Sipirra and he taught me crop rotation, management of moon cycles, I was very attentive to him because he taught me a lot to love the land. I am grateful to him, he has passed away but he left me a legacy, and it is that, care, love and that we really have to do a lot for the Earth, so an ancestral knowledge put in today's life.

E: Rosa, two things: the first is to congratulate you for your great environmental commitment which has lasted for more than twenty years and the second is to know how you select, what criteria do you take into account to choose the plants, the trees you plant and how well have they adapted to the mountain ecosystem?

A: Well, we wanted to make this video in an area where it is already restored. We had to come here because we are just starting. First we remove the needles, which are the leaves of the pine trees, which form very high mattresses that prevent grasses from growing and water from entering, then we remove them progressively and we plant creeping plants, after planting very resistant creeping plants, local, scientists call them dynamogenetic, after that we uncover the stones of these needles, Rosita Suarez is a great expert in that, she helps a lot here and then we remove all this and water begins to enter and that starts to be something wonderful. What we do is to observe nature and give it what it needs. For example, we realize that in the areas that are already restored, the animals come and bring seeds, so there are already many plants in those areas. We will start this zone in 2021.

E: Rosalía, but in this case you have been practically alone or very little accompanied, however, we know that you have generated a series of workshops, environmental and ecological walks to see if more people will join in. How does this contribute to collective environmental awareness?

A: Well, most people who live in Villa de Leyva know that we are doing this restoration, they know that we are very few, that we always have to dedicate our time, we are volunteers; here nobody pays us to do this, we do it because we have to do it. The most important thing is prevention. When we do prevention we avoid fires, so I invite all of you who are watching this program to prevent, because there was a very nice phrase that said that "it is better to prevent than to regret", so when we do prevention... we are already in a time of the El Niño phenomenon, the La Niña phenomenon and all that, so if we prepare ourselves beforehand we mitigate disasters a lot, so we invite you to do that. Yes, with the little bit we do or the time we dedicate to it, we want people to think that this planet we are on is a gift because we have all the basics for free, that is, we have sunlight, water, air, that is, we are very fortunate and the idea is that we are not only Rosita, Rocío, Nancy, Don John, who supported us a lot, but that we are all, because we all really need water, we all need nature to be able to be on this planet.

E: All our recognition for this work. Antonio Vargas tells us: "I recently went to Villa de Leyva and how wonderful to see how the mountains have vegetation again. I would like to ask you, in this restoration process, what has been the biggest challenge and how have you managed to overcome it?

A: Well, the biggest challenge has always been that we have had to find the time and balance everything to be able to come here, also a challenge is that many people are unconscious and come to smoke, to make bonfires, to take away the plants that we planted, also at one time they used to bring the cows in, so it is a struggle, that is, it is something that sometimes you wake up and say... "to continue or not to continue? It is the dilemma, but you say, no, at least you go to bed with peace of mind that you have done what you have to do or what you know you have to do because if you falter, everything goes down the drain.

I: Rosalía, let's talk very briefly about a prize for which you have already been selected and a dream you have, which is the botanical garden.

A: Well, we were nominated for an award that started in 2020 and ends in 2030, launched by Prince William, the Earthshot Price, it is an award with five categories: Soil Restoration, Air Cleanup, Ocean Cleanup, Waste Reduction and Climate Change. This year they nominated us and it has been a gift of life because it is that other people in the world recognize this work that has been done, that is, here it cannot be appreciated to the fullest, but that is what it is, we are very happy because after twenty-one years of restoring these people of the Earthshot Price say "you with what you are doing can be an example worldwide".

E: Rosalía, thank you very much for joining us in Avanza el Cambio, we would like to congratulate you from our team for the important work you are developing and we would also like you to take advantage of this space to greet the ethnic group to which you belong.

A: Well, yes, I want to thank my entire Sipirra community because they have always supported me, because when I was little they were very attentive to me and my siblings, also my relatives when they were older were there and it is a very close-knit community. I really thank Sipirra and the whole resguardo for all the cultural richness they have and for such a great sense of community.