PharmaCielo and Cooperativa Caucannabis Commit to Making a Difference in Colombia's Ecosystem

PharmaCielo sponsors community initiative providing economic support for ecosystem restoration in Cauca, Colombia

TORONTO and MEDELLÍN, Colombia, July 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - PharmaCielo and its partners from Cooperativa Caucannabis are pleased to announce their sponsorship of BanCO₂ in the Cauca Department of Colombia, an initiative designed to provide economic support to rural farm families, indigenous people and communities for the restoration and conservation of strategic ecosystems.  

With support from the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Cauca (CRC), the program will work with the CAICOTB Indigenous Council (Cabildo Indigena De Corinto Tierra De Bendicion), who have committed to undertaking a forest restoration project and to also support growers that replace illicit cannabis and coca crops with a sustainable environmental ecosystem of native plants that contribute to the fight against global warming. 

"PharmaCielo is very pleased to be able to provide support not only to CAICOTB, but also to the overall Colombian environment," said Federico Cock-Correa, CEO and Director of PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings. "We have always felt that commitment to the development of a new industry such as medicinal cannabis should benefit not only PharmaCielo, but Colombia as a whole, and improving our natural environment is a key part of that benefit."

Endorsed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the BanCO₂ initiative allows communities settled in the protection zones to work for the protection of the environment, through economic compensation in exchange for activities offsetting CO₂ emissions. The program is administered by the MasBosques Corporation, a non-profit organization that aims to combine the skills, experience and creativity of its partner organizations to enable communities to support and participate in environmental change by making appropriate use of natural resources consistent with the criteria of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. Participating communities benefit from both the improvement in the quality of the terrestrial Colombian ecosystem and advances in the quality of living.

"PharmaCielo has already made a significant commitment to this area and we will continue to do so," added Cock-Correa. "The region has a lot to offer the country as a whole, as well as to the Colombian cannabis industry, but needs support in making the opportunity a reality."

PharmaCielo has previously announced its partnership with Cooperativa Caucannabis and has established a 3.6-hectare cultivation operation which will make a significant contribution to improvements in the local economy and well-being.  As one of the regions most affected and harmed by armed conflict in Colombia, PharmaCielo is committed to helping to improve the conditions in the Cauca area.

About BanCO₂

BanCO₂ is an economic support initiative for sustainable environmental services born in the Autonomous Regional Corporation of the Basins of the Black and Nare Rivers "CORNARE" in 2013 with the purpose of supporting the community members who relied upon the illegal extraction of wood for financial support, and were seeking to replace an illicit activity as the main source of income with environmental services instead.  BanCO₂ is executed by MASBOSQUES, together with the environmental authorities, and support from strategic partners in the financial, business and academic sectors. This initiative is a local contribution with a national perspective and its main objective is compensation for environmental effects mainly associated with processes of deforestation and avoided degradation, which is one of the country's strategic lines for dealing with climate change, and as a legal economic alternative for families or communities victims of violence and vulnerable.  BanCO₂ seeks to promote knowledge of natural resources to help establish a regional and local economic base providing stable and legal sources of employment and income, and contributing to improving the food security of rural communities, based on sustainable use of natural resources and with that of Colombian biodiversity, implementing sustainable initiatives.

For further information:
www.banco2.com

About The MasBosques Corporation

The MasBosques Corporation is a private, non-profit association supporting sustainable forest management. The corporation was founded on September 30, 2003 as a result of the Alternative Financing Model for Sustainable Management in the San Nicolas (Colombia) Forest, funded by the Rio Negro-Nare Autonomous Regional Corporation (CORNARE), the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).

For further information:
http://www.masbosques.org.co

About PharmaCielo

PharmaCielo Ltd. is a global company privately held and headquartered in Canada, with a focus on processing and supplying all natural, medicinal-grade cannabis oil extracts and related products to large channel distributors. PharmaCielo's principal (and wholly-owned) subsidiary is PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings SAS, headquartered at its nursery and propagation centre located in Rionegro, Colombia. 

The boards of directors and executive teams of both PharmaCielo and PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings are comprised of a diversely talented group of international business executives and specialists with relevant and varied expertise. PharmaCielo recognized the significant role that Colombia's ideal location will play in building a sustainable business in the medical cannabis industry, and the company, together with its directors and executives, has built a compelling business plan focused on supplying the international marketplace.

For further information: 
www.PharmaCielo.com

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or "recurring" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, such as demand for the Company's products, currency exchange changes and risks, internal funding and the financial condition of the Company, product roll-out, competition, technological changes, and other commercial matters involving the Company, its products, and the markets in which the Company operates, as well as general economic conditions, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. However, any further disclosures made on related subjects in subsequent reports should be consulted.

SOURCE PharmaCielo