Asset Publisher

Event reports

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP

by Giovanni Burga

EFFECTS OF BIODIVERSITY STRATEGIES AND PLANS IN THE ANDEAN REGION

The workshop "Effects of Biodiversity Strategies and Plans in the Andean region" took place with the participation of representatives from the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law and biodiversity specialists from Brazil, Bolivia, and Colombia. The conclusions drawn from this workshop are the cornerstone for carrying out a research for publication that contributes to the debate and the decisions taken at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity later this year (Cancun, Mexico, December 2016) and the subsequent policies and strategies in Latin America.

Asset Publisher

After the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), whose main objective is "the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair, and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources" (CBD, 1992), emerged in Latin America a boom of regulatory frameworks and efforts of environmental implementation. This boom included actions like the statement that "Natural Protected Areas are not with the people, but for the people" (Bolivia), the Enactment of a Comprehensive Biodiversity Act (Peru), the presentation of a wide and varied regulatory framework together is presented as a "Strategy" (Brazil), or the existence of nature protection policy by creating large areas of conservation (Colombia).

Nonetheless, it was concluded at the workshop that beyond national efforts (with regulatory differences and internal political organization), we have a variety of common problems, which include mainly: lack of indicators and homogeneous baselines to measure progress and feedback on the standards’ implementation, lack of regulatory frameworks application, poor land management (overlapping rights, minimum certification and inadequate vision of sustainability) and, in some cases, an excessive dependence on international cooperation for biodiversity projects, forgetting that its function is to support development processes and complement the institutionalization of policies and domestic and regional agendas with a long-term sustainability vision.

The geography of the Amazon and the Andes (to cite two examples) transcends political boundaries and integrates us naturally, which should promote common strategies to generate sustainable development and resource conservation (in this case Biodiversity), but at the end of the workshop it can be considered that after more than 20 years of the "boom" in Biodiversity standards, there are no studies nor reliable and representative information that can answer the following questions: What effects have the biodiversity strategies had? Are there successes, progress, measurable achievements? These questions will serve as a compass for the research carried out in Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru through literature reviews, interviews, and surveys to professionals and public and private officials, reference documentation analysis such as Sustainability Reports, the agendas of the chancelleries and comptroller reports, etc.; encompassing both internal analysis and in its regional links and involvement with global agreements in the fight against climate change.

Asset Publisher

Contact

Giovanni Burga

Giovanni Burga

Project Manager

giovanni.burga@kas.de +51 934 346 675
Logo Programa Regional EKLA KAS inglés

comment-portlet

Asset Publisher

Asset Publisher