“Giving the Coin Back to the Bear” is an initiative created to raise awareness about Colombia’s loss of biodiversity and the critical condition of many of its native species. Over the years, issues such as intensive deforestation, cattle farming, and environmental destruction have pushed much of the country’s wildlife toward extinction. Paradoxically, many of these endangered animals are still represented on Colombian coins, even though they are disappearing from the ecosystems they belong to.

One of these cases is the spectacled bear, featured on the 50 Colombian peso coin, the country’s lowest denomination coin, and one that today can barely buy anything. The idea starts with a simple but powerful question: how can we give that coin back to the bear?

The campaign invites people to donate their unused 50 peso coins, transforming something almost forgotten into a real tool for conservation. Every collected coin helps protect natural reserves and preserve the habitat of the spectacled bear and other endangered species across Colombia.