Nested in mountainous terrain shaped by the Cartama river, between 700 and 900 metres above sea level, Biosuroeste sits at an ecological threshold: humid tropical forests climbing the slopes of the northwestern Andes meet the remnants of Colombia’s endangered tropical dry forests. The result is a mosaic of habitats marked by striking transitions, where life develops continuously along the gradient. This diversity gives the region extraordinary agroecological potential, nourished further by centuries of agricultural tradition. Returned to the public through Colombia’s first collective land restitution, the 600-hectare site now known as Biosuroeste is emerging as a living laboratory for agroecological transformation at the bioregional scale.

History has shaped layers of social and cultural crossings on this land, visible in ancient petroglyphs as well as the scars of a more recent era. After decades marked by conflict and narcotrafficking, the site was returned to the municipalities of Valparaíso and Támesis – a landmark effort to restore land to a region affected by violence.

Local actors then formed the Biosuroeste Corporation, a non-profit bringing together municipalities, regional universities and research centres, grassroots groups, and private-sector partners convened through Proantioquia. The Inter-American Development Bank, with EAFIT University’s urbam centre, contributed to designing the park’s Master Plan. Agroecologist Clara Nicholls (UC Berkeley, co-founder of SOCLA with Miguel Altieri) introduced the concept of the Faro Agroecológico – the agroecological lighthouse – that became central to the model.

In 2021, the social enterprise Comfama assumed leadership, integrating Biosuroeste into its strategy for social mobility and territorial development. At the intersection of scientific design and community imagination, a shared idea took shape: to transform Biosuroeste into a living park for the wider public, a demonstrative beacon for a bioregional future centred on regeneration and socio-ecological restoration.

Through the Amplifying Stories of Agroecology Principles and Practices (ASAPP) project, we shed light on models for agroecological transformation at scale – not by simply scaling up practices, but by scaling deep: reshaping the values, relationships and imaginaries that guide how people relate to nature, to each other, and to the future of their territories. Biosuroeste offers a living example.

Working with what already exists: productive systems as entry points

Biosuroeste operates as a multifunctional living lab, where nature-based tourism – bird watching, hiking, horseback riding – sits alongside regenerative food production as the basis for a collective learning model. Working with emerging sectors, high-value markets and regional lighthouse farms, the park has developed two productive systems that reflect the cultural history of the territory while positioning them as agroecological reference points in the region. In doing so, it engages with real market dynamics, seeking to amplify them, catalyse their growth, and contribute to formal employment and improved quality of life across the region.

These systems intentionally reflect the size of local family farms (0.5–15 ha), embedding them in the realities from which they emerge. They include an edible forest centred on cacao and vegetable production, and a livestock system sustained by adaptive rotational grazing with a diversity of native tree species relevant to bioeconomy markets.

Livestock plays a central role in the landscapes and economies of Southwest Antioquia, accounting for roughly 60% of land use across the province. In this context, Biosuroeste’s integration of native trees and adaptive grazing offers a regenerative response to the erosion and biodiversity loss associated with conventional pasture systems on steep slopes.

Early results point to tangible differences. Even when starting from degraded pastures, the livestock system achieves 40% higher meat production per hectare than the national average – with less manual labour and higher nutritional quality.

Working with farmer associations, companies, research institutions and local families, the edible forest and livestock systems function as both model farms and technological learning hubs for regenerative food production – showcasing possibilities adjacent to the lived reality of local smallholders and agricultural companies alike.

In a region where agricultural traditions run deep but extractive practices still shape much of the landscape, these systems do more than demonstrate alternatives: they make them visible and workable. Biosuroeste does not step outside the dominant horizon of the territory – it begins to shift it, grounding change in practice and opening spaces where a different future is already taking form.

From demonstration to collective agency: cultivating communities of practice

Field visits, workshops and regional gatherings hosted at the park generate communities of practice centred on regenerative bioregional development. In 2025 alone, Biosuroeste offered training to over 2,500 producers, students and rural campesino families across the territory. More than 500 livestock producers participated in training programmes and talks, and over 1,200 people engaged in regional events bringing together producer associations, technical experts, and institutions working on sustainable livestock.

These encounters strengthen the visibility and credibility of agroecological practices across the region, while bridging rural communities with public institutions and markets.

Through the guiding principle of integrated system health, Biosuroeste seeks to demonstrate that soil health, ecosystem vitality, animal welfare and human wellbeing are inseparable dimensions of the same living system. This challenges a common narrative in agriculture that frames environmental care and productivity as competing objectives. For many producers, the understanding is reinforced in practice through the co-evolution of soil recovery and farm productivity on their own land:

By demonstrating rather than enforcing alternative models, Biosuroeste invites people to sense and imagine the future of their territory as a place where nature restoration benefits all – an approach intended to cultivate agency and self-sustaining engagement. When producers recognize their own realities in the living experiments taking place at Biosuroeste, the park becomes a mirror of the territory, a beacon of hope directed at its transformative potential.

Between past and future

Today the site acts as a bridge between past and future, between extractive land use and regenerative possibilities for the wider Southwest Antioquia bioregion. Biosuroeste shows how agroecological transformation can begin with places that make new possibilities visible. As a Faro Agroecológico – an agroecological lighthouse – the park illuminates regenerative pathways that others can observe, adapt and carry forward. When such lighthouses emerge, they reshape not only landscapes, but the imaginaries through which territories envision their futures.