The COAMA (Consolidation of the Colombian Amazon) programme was established in 1989 as a medium-term strategy for the Colombian Amazon. The primary has been to accompany the indigenous peoples in strengthening their cultural identity, recuperating their autonomy and preserving the tropical forest.

The programme has encouraged a process of decentralisation in the Colombian Amazon; the empowerment of local people, cultural respect and understanding, and preservation of the tropical forests. It is a participatory and grassroots process, whereby indigenous communities have gradually gained the experience and confidence to manage their own projects, and begun to evolve regional projections for their own education and health programmes, self-government, territorial and natural resource management.

COAMA has facilitated inter-cultural collaboration between indigenous organisations, NGOs and government entities, for the protection of cultural and biological diversity. Furthermore, it is a peaceful process, which reflects the cultural and environmental realities of the Colombian Amazon.

As a working strategy for forest preservation through empowerment of indigenous peoples, COAMA was highlighted as an important and positive example in the 1999 Report "Our Forests, Our Future" (World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development). Also in 1999, the programme was honoured with the Right Livelihood Award from Sweden, and one of the founding NGOs, Gaia Amazonas, received Colombia's prestigious Award for Environmental Distinction.

Financial support has come primarily through international cooperation from the European Commission and the Governments of Austria, Denmark and Holland.