Something New Is Coming!

Our website is currently undergoing updates and improvements as we prepare for an exciting relaunch on July 1st, 2026. We appreciate your patience and support during this time and look forward to welcoming you back with a refreshed experience, new features, and updated information. Please check back soon.

Curaçao has always been cared for by the people who know it best.

The fishermen who read the tides before the scientists arrived. The rangers who built the trails, memorized every species, and passed that knowledge down through generations. The guides who carry an island's worth of ecological and cultural memory in their hands every single day — and rarely receive the recognition or the income they deserve.

COIA was built to bring change.

We are a locally led, community-rooted foundation uniting Curaçao's outdoor businesses, conservation practitioners, and cultural stewards under one alliance. Our work is regenerative: we don't just protect what remains — we actively restore what has been lost, and we build the conditions for it to thrive long into the future.

The Problem


Curaçao's natural heritage is under pressure. Over 50% of our southern coast is earmarked for tourism development. Our coral reefs face unprecedented stress. Our trails and forests lack coordinated stewardship. And the people who know these lands best—the guides, fishermen, rangers, and community members who built the trails and read the tides—are too often left out of the decisions that shape their future.

Meanwhile, the outdoor industry that depends on these ecosystems operates on fragments. Businesses compete for the same visitors. Guides lack standardized training. Developers build
without ecological guidance. And conservation efforts remain trapped in office cubicles, disconnected from the hard-working locals who actually get things done.

What We Stand For

COIA stands for a different approach.

We believe conservation only works when it honors the people who steward the land. We believe the outdoor industry should be a platform for community building, not just commerce. And we believe that regeneration (actively restoring what has been depleted) is the only path forward.

This is not the old model of conservation — expertise flown in, solutions imposed from outside, locals sidelined. This is something different. COIA places local knowledge at the centre of everything we do. We train and certify guides. We create career pathways in environmental stewardship, regenerative tourism, marine monitoring, and outdoor education. We build the kind of outdoor industry that doesn't exploit its foundation — it rebuilds it.

Our values are simple:

  • Local knowledge first. The people who built the trails, memorized the flora, and created oral libraries of ecological wisdom are not afterthoughts. They are the foundation.
  • Collaboration over competition. Businesses, communities, government, and NGOs must work together, or we all lose.
  • Regeneration, not just preservation.
    We don't just minimize harm. We actively restore mangroves, reefs, forests, and the livelihoods that depend on them.
  • Evidence-based advocacy. Policy changes when data is clear, and voices are united.

What We Want to Accomplish

The outdoor industry depends on nature. COIA ensures that nature depends on the people who know it best, and that those people are equipped, recognized, and economically empowered to be its long-term guardians.

Short-term

We are building the infrastructure of a sustainable outdoor economy. That means certified guides who lead responsibly. Lodges that meet rigorous environmental standards. Consulting services that help developers build with nature, not against it. And training programs that turn outdoor enthusiasts into stewards.

Medium-term

We are restoring Curaçao's critical ecosystems at scale. Our Mangrove Adoption Program (MAP) is already buffering coastal communities from climate impacts while creating sustainable livelihoods. Coral Ways Collective (CWC) is protecting the reef
systems that safeguard our fisheries and culture. And our Terrestrial Conservation programs are reviving native forests and trail networks.

Long-term

We are securing Curaçao's natural heritage for generations to come. Through our Research & Observation branch, we will generate the data that drives policy. And through our Alliance, we will prove that a thriving outdoor economy and a thriving environment are not opposing goals—they are the same goal.

This is what long-term sustainability looks like. Not a project. Not a campaign. A living system — built by and for the people of Curaçao, designed to last for generations.

Why Partner With Us

We are not another NGO asking for donations. We are building a self-sustaining ecosystem where conservation generates revenue, where certification creates market advantage, and where community stewardship is economically viable.

We have 18 years of conservation leadership on the ground. We have partnerships with WWF and government agencies. We have programs that are already working.

But we cannot do this alone.

We need businesses that want to differentiate themselves through genuine sustainability. We need investors who understand that regenerative development outperforms extractive development over time. We need researchers, guides, and community leaders who want to shape the future of Curaçao's outdoors.