Protecting the Orinoco river basin in Colombia through the integration of ecosystem services into regional development planning - TEEB

The complex ecosystem of the Orinoco river landscape is still largely untouched. It offers a unique biodiversity and provides key ecosystem services for the population of Colombia. The rapidly spreading agro-industrial production does not yet consider the value of the ecosystem services sufficiently – and this endangers the ecological stability of the region. The project strengthened the resources and competencies of key stakeholders in the assessment of ecosystem services. This should enable decision-makers to recognize the value of ecosystem services and to integrate it into regional development planning. In this way, the project also contributed to the implementation of the National Biodiversity Policy, the Aichi 2020 Targets and the National Adaptation Plan (NAP).

Project data

Countries: Colombia
IKI funding: 3,500,000.00 €
Duration: 09/2018 till 08/2022
Status: completed
Implementing organisation: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Political Partner: Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) - Colombia
Implementing Partner: Alexander von Humboldt Institute on Research for Biological Resources - Colombia

Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH (UFZ)

Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) - Colombia

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State of implementation/results

Project completed
Three agreements were reached for the sustainable assurance of the biodiversity monitoring system
Experts and locals recorded 271 bird and 70 mammal species during the last biodiversity monitoring, determining the state of biodiversity in the Puma Triangle, an area of great ecological importance in the department of Meta. www.youtube.com/…
Two bee conservation agreements with were signed with associations in Vichada
The second virtual exchange on the cashew value chain in collaboration with Ghanaian partners received considerable positive response. www.youtube.com/…
Together with representatives of the public and private sector and the civil society, significant services of ecosystems were identified, which are related to gallery forests (food, raw materials and recreation), savannah landscapes (water and habitat) and soil (food, animal feed).
In addition, priority themes/sectors were identified together with the implementing partners: Advice on planning and regional planning processes, sustainable livestock farming and cashew cultivation.
Through advisory inputs and workshops, the project and its implementing partners contributed to the consideration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in planning processes.
With support of the project biodiversity and ecosystem services were integrated into the municipal development plans 2020-2023 of five municipalities and two departments (Vichada and Meta) and into two agricultural expansion programs (Programas de Extension Agrícola (PDEA). By law, plans for agricultural expansion have now to consider biodiversity and ecosystem services aspects.
Together with the Colombian Humboldt Institute the data collection methods for biodiversity monitoring for the project region were improved
The local population was trained on the valorization of ecosystem services, using pollination as an example, and thus sensitized about the importance of nature's services for people.
In September 2021, the IUCN World Congress was held in France. Together with the Environmental Research Center (UFZ), GIZ presented the methodology developed by the project to design policy instruments for the protection of ecosystem services.
An exchange of experiences and best-practices regarding the cashew value chain between Brazil-Colombia-Ghana took place. This first event in a series of exchange formats was attended by 150 people.