CAF renews commitment to environmental awareness in the region

In line with the goal of becoming the green bank, CAF—development bank of Latin America—is supporting various initiatives to advance sustainable development of member countries. One of them is the support since 2019 to the Colosos de la Tierra (Colossi of the Earth) competition organized by the Paraguay’s NGO A Todo Pulmón.

A Todo Pulmón – Paraguay Respira is an NGO that designs, develops and launches comprehensive environmental campaigns and projects aimed to raise awareness, encourage best practices for sustainable production and devise strategies that help mitigate the effects of climate change. For the past 11 years, it has organized the annual “Colosos de la Tierra” competition, aimed at raising awareness about the importance of preserving native forests and respect for trees. The competition seeks to reward the largest trees, through the people who nominate them, in addition to encouraging their preservation, learning the stories of the communities where they are, and obtaining a georeferenced database to protect them. All native trees, with a minimum height of 20 meters or 3 meters in trunk circumference, can participate in the competition. This is considered one of the largest environmental campaigns worldwide, based on its scope, originality and impact. This year, it boasted record nomination of 713 trees nationally and 23 internationally.

CAF has been participating and supporting the initiative, and this year, it has joined in expeditions by the NGO to different parts of the country to meet the 22 finalist trees, covering a total of 3,627 kilometers. It was also present for the 2022 awards ceremony last September, with prizes for a total of seven categories, including the largest tree, the tallest tree, the tree with the largest trunk circumference, the largest crown, the tree of the people, the largest tree in Paraguay’s Chaco region and the international Colossus.

Yesterday was the annual fundraising dinner of the NGO, chaired by its executive president, Ezequiel García Rubín, its 1st Vice President Ronaldo Dietze, and Executive Director Osvaldo Turlán. Representing CAF was South Regional Manager Jorge Srur. The event was also attended by government authorities, businessmen, artists, and special guests.

At, CAF we believe that this initiative by A Todo Pulmón can not only be increasingly consolidated in Paraguay, but also successfully scaled, with our support, to other countries of the region, as it helps promote shared values: the need to raise awareness about the importance of preserving our biodiversity, the protection of what Pope Francis calls “our common home,” with the purpose of promoting sustainable development, in balance with nature,” noted Srur.

CAF reiterates its commitment to becoming the green bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, working to contribute to the preservation of nature and raising awareness about the importance of environmental protection, with the conviction that organizations have a pivotal role to address this issue.