The sixth volume in this series presents an extended study on the natural environment of the western Caquetá in Colombia, including socio-economic aspects. In this region, poor land management and the failure to take into account ecological restrictions of the environment are important causes of widespread degradation of both living conditions and natural resources. The study, which is aimed at defining strategic guidelines for land-use planning in the Caquetá, is therefore a valuable contribution to forest conservation and wise utilisation.The Instituto Geográphico Augustín Codazzi, in collaboration with the National University of Colombia, carried out the study as part of the Tropenbos-Colombia programme. It is based on an approach that examines the interrelation between physical, biotic and socio-economic components of the regional environment. Land-use planning - in Colombia referred to as Ordenamiento Territorial – should be seen as a voluntary process to guide the transformation, occupation and use of geographic space. Land evaluation is used as the instrument to link identification of natural resources and decisions on land-use planning. In order to assess the regional circumstances, data were collected on history, geography, geomorphologic features, meteorology, hydrography, soil characteristics and present land-use, as well as on demography, infrastructure, health education and financial services. The study consists of three books and nine different maps. Six maps illustrate the characteristics analysed. The other three maps geographically present the findings on land-evaluation, homogeneous agricultural zones and proposed zoning for land-use planning