EBP-Colombia and the bioeconomy: Genomics in the service of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

Publisher: National Academy of Sciences Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 7505876 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1091-6490 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00278424 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Washington, DC : National Academy of Sciences

Conservation of Natural Resources/*methods ; Genomics/*methods ; Sustainable Development/*trends; Agriculture/methods ; Biodiversity ; Colombia ; Ecology ; Ecosystem ; Genome/genetics ; Government Programs/trends ; Sustainable Development/economics

The 2016 Peace Agreement has increased access to Colombia's unique ecosystems, which remain understudied and increasingly under threat. The Colombian government has recently announced its National Bioeconomic Strategy (NBS), founded on the sustainable characterization, management, and conservation of the nation's biodiversity as a means to achieve sustainability and peace. Molecular tools will accelerate such endeavors, but capacity remains limited in Colombia. The Earth Biogenome Project's (EBP) objective is to characterize the genomes of all eukaryotic life on Earth through networks of partner institutions focused on sequencing either specific taxa or eukaryotic communities at regional or national scales. Colombia's immense biodiversity and emerging network of stakeholders have inspired the creation of the national partnership "EBP-Colombia." Here, we discuss how this Colombian-driven collaboration between government, academia, and the private sector is integrating research with sustainable, environmentally focused strategies to develop Colombia's postconflict bioeconomy and conserve biological and cultural diversity. EBP-Colombia will accelerate the uptake of technology and promote partnership and exchange of knowledge among Colombian stakeholders and the EBP's global network of experts; assist with conservation strategies to preserve Colombia's vast biological wealth; and promote innovative approaches among public and private institutions in sectors such as agriculture, tourism, recycling, and medicine. EBP-Colombia can thus support Colombia's NBS with the objective of sustainable and inclusive development to address the many social, environmental, and economic challenges, including conflict, inequality, poverty, and low agricultural productivity, and so, offer an alternative model for economic development that similarly placed countries can adopt.
Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest.
(Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)

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Keywords: biological conservation; ecosystem management; green economy

Date Created: 20220119 Date Completed: 20220228 Latest Revision: 20220228

20240105

PMC8795567

10.1073/pnas.2115641119

35042804