In August 2022 a diverse team of researchers, conservationists, artists, representatives of local and Indigenous communities and park rangers met at Estación Experimental San Lorenzo in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia with one common objective in mind: studying and preserving Harlequin Toads (genus Atelopus). The meeting was part of the project “The last refuge of Harlequin Toads: working together to save the jewels of the forest”, funded by the National Geographic Society.

The project involves a large group of people and organizations, including several Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA) partners, ASA Future Leaders of Amphibian Conservation and members of the Atelopus Survival Initiative (ASI). The partnership between scientists, conservationists, artists, and educators resulted in the creation of scientific protocols for research and monitoring of Atelopus and the publication of a children’s book and songs about Harlequin Toads. The continued persistence of the frogs was no mystery to local members of the Arhuaco community who said the reason they disappeared everywhere else is because in other places the harmony between the earth and its people had been disrupted, but here was special because the people respect their environment and its inhabitants. As researchers discussed the possibilities that may allow the frogs to persist here in this unique place and how unlocking the mysteries may help recover harlequin frogs elsewhere.

The team was led by Lina Valencia, coordinator of the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group Atelopus Task Force, and Luis F. Marin da Fonte, coordinator of the ASI and Director of Partnerships & Communications at the Amphibian Survival Alliance. Other team members were Jeferson Villalba, José Luis Peres, and Sintana Rojas (ASA partner Fundación Atelopus), Brian Gratwicke (ASA partner Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute), Pedro Peloso (ASA Future Leader of Amphibian Conservation), Juan Manuel Guayasamin (Jambato Alliance), Janni Benavides, Julia Alvarez and Andrés Alvarez (Jacana Jacana), Delia Basanta (University of Nevada), Mirna Garcia-Castillo (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Ruperto Chaparro and Rufino Arroyo (Arhuaco Indigenous community), Sara Ramírez (Selva Selvita), Timothé Le Pape (Cerato, Association Herpétologique de Guyane), and Lilia Mejia, Anibal Benitez, Jorge Meza, Elmer Ortega and Angela Arias (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia). Additional team members that were not able to join the fieldwork activities include Luke Linhoff (Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute) and Jamie Voyles (University of Nevada).