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Manos al Agua project wins Planeta Azul Award

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June 6, 2017

The Manos al Agua project has been set up to make the Colombian coffee sector climate proof to ensure more than half a million coffee farmers to cope with or fight the impact of lack or excess of water in 25 Colombian river basins. The project is set up by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Agency for International Cooperation (APC Colombia), the multinational companies Nestlé and Nespresso, Wageningen University & Research and Cenicafé.

The project now won the first place in the business category of Colombia’s 13th Planeta Azul (Blue Planet) National Ecology Award. The award ceremony took place at Bucaramanga’s Club Campestre. A total of 215 projects competed in this version of the Planeta Azul Award, created by the Banco de Occidente 14 years ago. The Planeta Azul National Ecology Award seeks to recognize and praise programs, projects or actions that show results in water knowledge, protection, conservation and recovery. “This award is the recognition of a great collective effort of partners, coffee growers themselves and all the team working in this beautiful project,” Rodrigo Calderón, director of the Manos al Agua program, said.

The criteria for selecting the winners included impact, creativity, validity, replicability, consistency of actions, integration of different areas, sustainability, and continuity in results of the experience. The Planeta Azul National Ecology Award, created in 1993 and focused on water, is an initiative by the Banco de Occidente to raise awareness among Colombia’s citizens about the need and importance of caring for and defending the environment.