Gaviotas – ‘Reinventing the World’ in Colombia

Ron Nicholls

"Gaviotas is a state of mind, more than anything. It is not really so much a place. It's a way of living and thinking. It means not just thinking outside the box, but constant innovation and re- invention."

(Paolo Lugari)

Las Gaviotas

One of the most inspiring stories of sustainable development in recent years is the establishment of the Las Gaviotas community on the eastern savannas of Colombia in South America. Considered to be one of the richest ecosystems in the world, Colombia is situated upon the equator with a range of natural elevations ideal for the efflorescence of an extraordinary abundance of biological diversity. With a highly educated and literate population, the country produces more than a hundred exportable crops and has developed a large range of manufacturing industries including textiles, chemicals, electrical apparatus and transport equipment.

However, since the late 1940s Colombia has been principally known for an ongoing cycle of violence associated with the struggle between government forces and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or the FARC. This ongoing struggle, coupled with the well- publicised narcotics trade, has established Colombia as one of the most dangerous places on earth. Yet despite the very real social crisis, Gaviotas has managed to create one of the worlds most significant sustainable communities and in 1997 was awarded the World prize in Zero Emissions from the United Nations Zero Emissions Research Initiative.

Background

In 1971 the community commenced the slow process of transforming the barren soils of the eastern plains into what has been referred to as the miraculous community of Gaviotas. Situated in Vichada, a two-day drive from the capital city of Bogota, the name is taken from the small yellow-billed terns that frequent the area. At present Gaviotas is a village of about 200 people and for over three decades has struggled to build a uniquely alternative, socio-political environment and sustainable community in the remote, barren plains or llanos of eastern Colombia.

The compound features neat white cottages, shaded by mango trees and bougainvillea and a range of buildings including a school, meeting hall, open-air dining room and guest houses. The roofs are studded with solar water heating systems and the meeting hall is decorated with a large mural depicting the history and vision of the community.

While it is impossible to give a complete account of the many innovative projects developed by the community it is to be hoped that the following examples would give some indication of the possibilities for sustainable living illustrated by this remarkable community.

Established and directed by Paolo Lugari, the son of an Italian attorney and engineer, the community began with a collection of researchers, students and labourers sharing vehicles, bedding, dishes and clothes. In time, several dwellings were built to house a number of families and the unique social and cultural environment was established on the basis of unwritten rules and consensus decision- making.

Designed to be self-sufficient, Gaviotas has produced many innovative, cost-effective projects and made them available as viable alternatives for social and economic development in both rural and urban areas. The community has implemented advanced examples of zero emissions principles and practice and continues to illustrate that these principles are the only way to secure the long-term success of both economic and environmental initiatives.

The range of innovative projects undertaken at Gaviotas is remarkable and key areas have included:

Solving problems

Early problems for the new community were the production of fresh food, and access to clean water. The soils of the llanos were thin and unproductive and there were several unsuccessful attempts to grow fruit trees and vegetables to sustain the multiplying population. Attempts to increase the fertility of the soils produced marginal results and ultimately, the mainstay of fresh food production was supplied by large hydroponic greenhouse areas with a comprehensive array of vegetables and fruits growing in wastes from rice farms along the nearby Rio Meta.

Clean drinking water was also a problem as most of the surrounding surface water was contaminated and contributed to many of the health problems experienced in the area. Despite the poor condition of the available water the tropical plain was known to sit above a vast subterranean lake. To provide access to clean water the Gaviotas technicians created a lightweight windmill designed to take advantage of the soft equatorial breezes and subsequently have installed thousands of these windmills across Colombia.

Sharing innovation

One of the central aspects of the Gaviotas philosophy is the notion of "something for the third world by the third world" and the application of many of the ground breaking innovative technologies for the alleviation of poverty. As the community refuses to patent inventions and prefers to share them with others, these lightweight windmills have been copied and installed extensively throughout Central and South America.

Because the prohibitive cost prevented many indigenous farmers from taking advantage of the windmills the community developed a revolutionary double-action hand pump that could draw clean water from aquifers six times deeper than conventional models.

The pump operates by lifting a lightweight plastic sleeve rather than the heavy internal piston in conventional models and was utilised to provide a ready supply of clean water for Gaviotas and many of the Guahibo [indigenous peoples'] farms and villages in the surrounding areas. The pumps were so easy to operate they were attached to children's see-saws and over the years the Gaviotas technicians have set up many of these to provide clean water for schools and villages across Colombia.

Building a hospital

Because of the remote nature of the community a self- sufficient 16-bed hospital was designed and built to reflect the unique social environment emerging from the Llanos.

Conceived as a synthesis of the many ideas generated at the community and as a symbol of healing, the facility took four years to build and was completed in 1986. Named as one of the 40 most important buildings in the world by a Japanese architectural magazine and featuring innovative passive heating and cooling the hospital produces its own energy, distils its own water and cooks locally grown food.

The roof consists of a double layer of corrugated iron to form a series of air channels that remove excess heat. The interior is cooled from underground ducts channelled into a hillside facing prevailing breezes. Energy for water and electricity for the hospital are provided by solar collectors and food for the revolutionary solar cooking system is supplied by the gardens of the surrounding community.

Other features include an ingenious design that is able to reduce humidity in the operating theatre while providing natural airconditioning in other areas. The recovery area is fitted with skylights that can be opened to circulate fresh air, is decorated with hang mats and uses hammocks for indigenous patients who are uncomfortable in a modern bed with white sheets.

Indigenous families usually accompany their relatives to the hospital and the facility includes a separate accommodation wing for the families as they assist in the recovery process. The families also bring preferred food and local medicinal herbs and, as a result, the hospital has seen the establishment of a unique herbal garden and plant laboratory.

Converting the hospital…

Recently however, a decision by the government to pass legislation that prevents hospitals without a minimum level of equipment and specialised medical doctors or an insurance scheme with a minimum of 10,000 members resulted in the closure of the hospital.

The community was not discouraged by these unfortunate events and the building was converted into a facility for collecting, distilling and packaging water from the afforestation project that acts as an exceptional filtering unit. The hospital distils and packages the water at a low cost and as many of the local health problems are related to water quality (about 70%) the facility continues to make a significant contribution to preventative health care.

The challenges of climate change

One of the most successful ventures has been a massive reafforestation program. Initiated as a way to respond to the loss of biodiversity caused by the extensive logging of Colombia's primary forests, the program increases the capacity to fix C02 , recovers lost biodiversity, and is considered to be part of the challenge to reverse global warming.

According to biologists, the llanos were once part of a vast rain forest that stretched to the Amazon River. As a result of climate changes and devastating fires about 30,000 years ago the area became unproductive and, by the time the Gaviotians arrived, the soil was acidic and shallow. After finding that no indigenous tree would grow on the depleted soils of the area they have planted millions of Caribbean pine trees (a native of nearby Venezuela) on approximately 7,500 hectares.

After some difficulty with early plantings the community discovered that if they dipped the roots of the seedlings in a mycorrhyzal fungi that was missing from the soil, but obtainable from the pines' native territory, the trees were able to develop at an astonishing rate.

Value-adding

According to Lugari the success of any community depends upon an integrated approach and the ability to generate value-added projects and jobs in order to become self-sustaining. Rather than cut the standing timber the trees were tapped and the colophonia (gum resin) was able to be distilled (using solar power) into turpentine and a valuable product used as a substitute for petroleum based substances in paints, glues, cosmetics, perfume and medicines.

The community has discovered that the forest can produce twice as much resin as any other resin-tapping forests in the world. Tree tappers normally use sulfuric acid when making incisions, but Gaviotans use an enzyme that appears to be beneficial for the trees. One of the unforeseen aspects of the reafforestation project has been the regeneration of the natural biodiversity in the sheltered under-story of the pines.

At first the decision to introduce a non-indigenous monoculture was criticised by some, but fortuitously, a tropical forest is beginning to regenerate amongst the sheltered habitat of the pines and so far, 350 native plant species have been identified. The community intends to allow the native forest to gradually choke out the older pines and to continue the process of restoring the habitat for the already proliferating deer, hawks and anteaters.

More recently the Gaviotans have launched an airship equipped with infra-red sensing that serves as an early warning system for fires 24 hours a day and can respond within 15 minutes.

Energy-independence & zero waste

Resin from the pines, as well as aging trees, are used as a substitute for diesel-fuel in turbine engines and coupled with existing solar power, this has enabled the community to become energy independent.

The colofonia factory, designed and built by Colombian engineers with the aid of a US$2 million dollar grant from the Japanese Extension Fund for International Cooperation, has a unique zero emissions production process and all waste is recovered and utilised.

The innovative approach adopted by the community has also resulted in the design of a prize-winning triple-layered packaging design from recycled materials. The design permits easy filling and cooling and the recycling of material and allows for easy handling of the packaged product.

Committed to sustaining the culture of indigenous peoples the reforestation and colofornia projects have resulted in the employment of 160 full-time staff, most of whom are local indigenous people, and contributes to the support of over 1,000 family groups.

Conclusion

In its struggle to build a coherent and integrated community Gaviotas has demonstrated that it is possible to create a vital environment that can respond to the need for employment, health care, social stability and economic development in a sustainable way.

The community was established in harsh conditions and as Paolo Lugari points out, "We always put social experiments in the easiest, most fertile places. We wanted the hardest place. If we could do it there, we could do it anywhere. The only deserts are deserts of the imagination. Gaviotas is an oasis of imagination."

Many of the innovative projects developed in Gaviotas have demonstrated that renewable energy systems are viable alternatives for decentralised social and economic initiatives in rural and urban areas.

The practical examples of zero emissions production represent a shift away from linear models, whereby wastes are considered the norm, to integrated strategies that mimic the sustainable cycles of natural systems.

In the light of the dominant patterns of production and consumption inherent in the present drive towards the globalised economy, Gaviotas has the capacity to be an inspiration to us all.

References & Articles of Interest

Dharma Haven www.dharma-haven.org/five-havens/gaviotas.htm

Friends of Gaviotas www.friendsofgaviotas.org/default.htm

Gaviotas project at the Zero Emissions Research Institute www.zeri.org/expo/prj_gaviotas.htm

Weisman, Alan 1995, Gaviotas: A village to reinvent the world, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, Vermont.

Zero Emissions Research Institute www.zeri.org

2007.2.8

www.urbanecology.org.au/articles/gaviotas.html
7 September 2004