Colombia

Colombia has a privileged geographical position that provides it with extraordinary aquatic resource wealth. The national territory covers approximately 1,141,748 km² of continental surface and 928,660 km² of maritime territory (IGAC, 2008). Inland river systems are organized into five major hydrographic basins: the Caribbean (including the Magdalena–Cauca basin), the Pacific, the Orinoco, the Amazon and the Catatumbo. The Magdalena–Cauca basin drains approximately 24 percent of the national territory and concentrates about 70 percent of Colombia’s population, constituting the historical axis of the country’s economic development. The Orinoco and Amazon basins, which together cover about 60 percent of the national territory, maintain artisanal and subsistence fishing systems with deep cultural significance for Indigenous and riverine communities.

According to the formalization process carried out between 2019 and 2020 by the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority (AUNAP) with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the country has 70,000 registered small-scale fishers, of whom 59,500 are men (85 percent) and 10,500 are women (15 percent). This activity takes place mainly along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, as well as in the basins of the Magdalena, Cauca, Orinoco and Amazon rivers, forming a sector characterized by great geographic and cultural diversity.

Since 2025, FAO has been implementing the project Enhancing equitable, climate-resilient and sustainable small-scale fisheries through the SSF Guidelines implementation, an initiative funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The project aims to support Colombia in the design and implementation of the National Plan of Action for Small-Scale Fisheries (NPOA-SSF), promoting effective participatory governance in the small-scale fisheries sector that contributes to the conservation of biodiversity and aquatic resources while ensuring climate-resilient and equitable livelihoods.

In this context, Colombia has become the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to begin the development of a NPOA-SSF, marking a strategic step toward the sustainable management of small-scale fisheries and positioning itself as a regional reference in the adoption of the SSF Guidelines.

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