TCHENDUKUA HERE AND ELSEWHERE
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Preserving life : SCHMIDT GROUPE joins forces with TCHENDUKUA HERE AND THERE
Thinking about sustainable housing is not just about designing more responsible living spaces. It also means preserving the ecosystems, territories and cultures that make this balance possible. Behind the environmental challenges are the men and women who, for generations, have maintained a close relationship with living things and played an active part in preserving biodiversity.
With this in mind, SCHMIDT GROUPE is now supporting TCHENDUKUA ICI ET AILLEURS, an organisation that has been working with the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia for almost thirty years.
Territories essential to the balance of life
Indigenous peoples represent around 5% of the world’s population, but their territories cover almost 25% of the land that is home to 80% of the world’s biodiversity. These figures are a reminder of the central role played by these communities in protecting ecosystems.
In the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuaco and Kankuamo peoples consider their territory to be the “heart of the world”. Their way of inhabiting the Earth is based on a balance between humans and nature, founded on transmission, respect for living beings and the preservation of natural resources.
TCHENDUKUA ICI ET AILLEURS aims to help these communities recover and protect their ancestral lands, while supporting reforestation, cultural transmission and local development projects.
Concrete action on the ground
In 2025, the actions carried out by the organisation resulted in :
- 97 hectares returned to local communities;
- 43 families resettled on their land
- 4,000 seedlings cultivated to help restore ecosystems;
- 110 young people supported in training and leadership courses.
Beyond the figures, these are territories, cultures and skills that continue to live and be passed on.
An approach in line with the “Better living in the world” mission
For the Schmidt Groupe, this partnership is a natural extension of our “Living Better in the World” mission. A mission that invites us to look at the habitat as a whole: the places where we live, but also the resources that surround them and the people who take care of them.
Supporting organisations like TCHENDUKUA ICI ET AILLEURS also means recognising that the challenges of housing go beyond walls and buildings. Sustainable living means learning to preserve the natural balance and listening to those who have been caring for it for generations.
