Regeneración del hábitat en áreas con presencia documentada de especies amenazadas. Una contribución a la conservación asociada a la operación del proyecto Central Hidroeléctrica Miel I, cordillera Central de Colombia, departamento de Caldas

We document conservation contributions of La Miel 1 hydropower station, based upon 18.763 biological registers, of 1.070 species and changes in land cover/use (1991 and 2011) in ca. 20.000 ha. 17 - 23 species with some degree of threat were reported, especially some with small distributional ranges threatened by deforestation. For all terrestrial species the project has allowed habitat improvement, since forest cover changed from 188 ha (6%) to 2.527,3 (89.5%) during the last 20 years. The positive effect is also revealed with a change from many small habitat fragments ( 4.000 ha). Although conservation of biodiversity was not an explicit environmental target, the fact that Miel I have promoted biological research, allows to document its current contributions to species conservation. It is thus proposed that hydropower enterprises may, through habitat protection, restoration and research, join national biodiversity conservation strategies; especially for those projects located in areas where conservation actions are insufficient.