Juanita Chaves Posada is a Colombian lawyer with a master’s degree in natural resources law from the University of Wollongong, Australia. She has been an international consultant of the UN system (FAO, UNCTAD, UNDP, UN Women) and works for the Humboldt Institute as Senior Professional at the International Affairs, Policy and Cooperation Office. Juanita has a lot of experience on environmental diplomacy, access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing, environmental governance and work with indigenous peoples and local communities.
As part of the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre’s (UNEP-WCMC) National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) Initiative under the framework of BES-Net, the Humboldt Institute coordinated the work on Colombia’s first national ecosystems assessment. The report and summary for policymakers were launched in June 2021. Currently, Colombia is developing a plan to promote the use of the assessment’s findings in decision-making.
Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. What are the most significant challenges identified in the national ecosystem assessment?
The richness of Colombia’s biodiversity is one of the country’s greatest assets, yet the true value of our biodiversity is not adequately recognized. This challenge unfolds in various ways, including the related knowledge gap, lack of coordinated policy response, and collective action for better management of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Climate change and deforestation primarily due to cattle ranching are the main drivers associated with the loss of biodiversity in Colombia. Wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs are key ecosystems to mitigate the effects of climate change and extreme events. However, about a quarter of the country’s wetlands have been transformed, with half of these areas associated with extensive cattle ranching.
Another important finding of the assessment is that the most preserved forest areas coincide with territories where indigenous peoples and other ethnic groups such as Afro-Colombian communities and the Raizal reside. Their voices must be listened to as these communities’ governance systems have been managing local ecosystems efficiently for generations.
Drawing from the assessment findings, there is an urgent need to address the complex interrelated issues of land rights, social inequality and environmental conflicts to halt and reverse the current trend of biodiversity loss in the country.
Colombia made close reference to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) guide on the production of assessments to craft its own national assessment. Based on this experience, please share a reflection on the opportunities and challenges of this approach.
The IPBES approach is based on an expert review of existing evidence, making it very powerful and efficient. It invites a synthesis of knowledge and helps identify new areas of research. In the case of Colombia, it represents a source of precious information to close the knowledge gap. The approach also acknowledges and values indigenous and local knowledge of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.
The assessment is a multi-year process, so some authors commit to this work initially, driven by enthusiasm, without considering how much effort and time it will require. In this sense, the voluntary nature of the assessment represents a challenge to be addressed with strategies including incentives for the authors.
We also struggled with the availability of data. Although invaluable information on biodiversity and ecosystem services was provided by a number of entities, including the Humboldt Institute, universities and research centres, these resources are often very specific (for example, focusing on particular sites rather than entire ecosystems). Furthermore, there was often a lack of continuity in observations which made it difficult for us to track the trajectory of change.
Finally, ensuring effective dialogue between diverse knowledge systems (i.e., scientific research and indigenous peoples) was challenging. Tools like Trialogues helped address such an obstacle, unleashing the insights of the local communities present and creating mutual understanding and trust among the different knowledge holders. Eventually, we received the support of indigenous peoples and local communities and created a dedicated chapter in the assessment report on indigenous and local knowledge and its critical role to address biodiversity decline in Colombia.
Tell us more about the process of engaging indigenous peoples and local communities in the assessment and the key findings of that chapter.
Biological and cultural diversity are tightly interlinked, with consequences on social, political and economic policies. Thus, it is more correct to speak about biocultural diversity. However, it is rarely recognized within the planning of the territorial entities and other authorities. Despite that, indigenous peoples and local communities succeed in developing strategies, protocols and other norms for protecting and managing territories sustainably, such as indigenous life plans, ethno-development plans for the territories of the Raizal and Palenquera communities and sustainable development plans for peasant reserve zones.
The impact of indigenous knowledge and practices on conservation work is confirmed by the status of biodiversity conservation in the territories where indigenous peoples and local communities could develop their systems of governance and ecosystems management.
Due to the lack of participation of the communities in the research and decision-making process on environmental policies, these tools and other local and indigenous practices are seldom recognized as valuable insights by academia and the policy sector in charge of directing and financing research. Our assessment demonstrates the relationship between biodiversity and indigenous and local knowledge, highlighting the need for communities’ participation in designing and developing strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem services, guaranteeing free, prior and informed consent.
Women, particularly those in indigenous and local communities, are significantly affected by the loss of biocultural diversity, climate change, the adverse effects of extractive activities and violence stemming from environmental conflicts. In this context, public policies need to establish affirmative measures in line with international standards, ensuring that indigenous and local women can have guaranteed land ownership, access to justice and participation in decision-making regarding the management and use of the territory, biodiversity conservation policies and knowledge sharing.
Focusing on the regional level, the Humboldt Institute is also actively engaged in the regional Amazon assessment. Please tell us more about this work and how Colombia’s assessment fits into the regional framework.
The Humboldt Institute leads the Technical Support Unit of the Fast-Track Regional Assessment of Ecosystem Services of the Amazon Region. This assessment comes at a critical moment when scientists are warning about the turning point in the accelerated loss of the Amazon biome due to climate change
The assessment is preceded by other important studies on the state of biodiversity, such as the Report of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon, launched last year at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP26 in Glasgow. The Fast-Track Assessment would start developing a collaborative process for articulation and dialogue with other assessments and studies to avoid duplication of efforts and focus on the value-added of the evaluation.
The scope of the Fast-Track Assessment is broader than the national assessment, but many lessons learned from the process in Colombia are applicable at the regional level. We also have some authors of the national ecosystem assessment as authors of the regional assessment. We built off the experience of the National Trialogue held in Colombia with indigenous peoples and local communities to design Trialogue meetings at the regional level. The national communication strategy also provided some critical lessons, such as involving relevant stakeholders from the beginning of the assessment and raising awareness of the process.
Finally, looking ahead towards the uptake of the key findings of the national ecosystem assessment and the implementation of the catalytic BES Solution Fund to support this work, what key activities are planned and what is the impact you envisage?
We’ll start with raising public awareness regarding the assessment’s findings targeting different stakeholders, such as public organizations, research institutions, science and environmental ministries and academia.
Rounds of engagement are planned with the authors, including providing technical information and findings to the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to inform the draft nature-positive law in Colombia and other relevant legislation, as well as with other national authorities for the development of the new national development plan (2022–2026). On the international level, the Colombian delegation to the Convention on Biological Diversity has also used the assessment results for the negotiations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
Our academic community plans to organize several webinars to share the assessment results and a face-to-face event with academia on how they can advocate the assessment findings.
On 26 April 2022, in partnership with UNEP-WCMC’s NEA Initiative and the Sub-Global Assessment Network, we will hold a global presentation of Colombia’s assessment, which will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about our work, the assessment’s findings and the process.
Are you interested to learn more about the Colombia assessment? Register for the Global presentation of Colombia’s National Ecosystem Assessment held on Tuesday 26 April 2022, 14:00 – 15:30 GMT. The session will be delivered in Spanish with simultaneous English interpretation.