Ana María Páez

Colombian environmentalist who pioneered sustainable agriculture in the Andes

Ana María Páez (1912-1968) was a visionary agronomist and environmental pioneer from Colombia whose work transformed agricultural practices in the Andean region. Born to a coffee farming family in the Cundinamarca department, she became the first woman to graduate from Colombia's National Agricultural University in 1935. Her groundbreaking research in the 1940s demonstrated how traditional Indigenous farming techniques could be combined with modern methods to prevent soil erosion.

In 1952 she established the Andean Sustainable Agriculture Collective, which trained over 2,000 farmers in terracing methods and crop rotation. Her Manual of Eco-Agricultural Practices (1958) became the foundational text for sustainable farming in Latin America. She successfully lobbied the Colombian government to create the first national parks in the Andes mountain range in 1960.

Her advocacy led to the creation of the Páramo Conservation Network, which now protects 12 million hectares of high-altitude ecosystems. Despite suffering persecution during La Violencia era, she continued her work until her death in a plane crash while surveying land for conservation. Her life is documented in the book Roots of Renewal: The Ana María Páez Story (2010) and the PBS documentary Andes of Change (2019).