Bioeconomy opportunities for four Colombian regions
Creators: name: Ferrini, Silvia
name: Grilli, Gaetano
name: Cantillo, Tatiana
name: Turner, Kerry
name: Erazo, Jaime
name: Di Maria, Corrado
name: López-Murcia, Mario Andrés
name: Valle-Parra, Juan Sebastián
name: García-Cardona, Felipe
name: V. Flechas, Sandra
name: Valderrama, Natalia
name: Azcárate, Juan F.
name: Restrepo Restrepo, Silvia
name: Di Palma, Federica
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: 140205 Environment and Resource Economics
subject: FOS: Economics and business

description: In approximately a year’s time the bioeconomy cluster project has carried out varied and vital activities focused on meeting policy challenges for a responsible biodiversity based bio-economy in Colombia. This has been possible by effectively engaging and bringing together academy and private sector researchers, key industrial players and government and policy advisors from Colombia and the UK. Strengthening key actor collaboration under the bioeconomy cluster has contributed to establishing the bases for sustainable bioeconomy strategies in three Colombian regions: Antioquia, Valle del Cauca and the Orinoquia flat lands. <br>In this report, we review the macroeconomic principles which should underpin bioeconomic progress, as well as the indicators required to assess such progress. Regional scale analysis is used to identify baseline conditions (via asset checks and cluster analysis) and barriers and opportunities for future bioeconomy investment programmes. This initial evidence base is supplemented by data derived from an online survey of local stakeholders. The success of any bioeconomy strategy will be conditioned by both the development of an international governance regime to enhance the protection of intellectual property rights including the Access and benefit-sharing (Nagoya Protocol), and the fostering of greater stakeholder coordination, as well as national to regional stakeholder engagement and coordination resulting in a more established stakeholder network.<br>Four case study regions, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Coffee region and Orinoquia, were chosen for the baseline asset check and cluster analysis, together with a stakeholder/network analysis in order to assess a sustainable bioeconomy potential. The cluster analysis was partitioned into economic, social and environmental categories. Five ‘economic’ cluster areas were found: a service-led highly developed cluster; a balanced development cluster; the coffee triangle cluster; a rural development cluster and a primary sector-led cluster. The five ‘social’ clusters were made up of a core central area of Colombia with high levels of education and innovation potential, together with lower levels of poverty. Outside of this core was a more peripheral cluster with higher levels of poverty and lower innovation diffusion. The five environmental clusters more or less mirrored the natural regions of Colombia but with outliers given the mega diverse character of the country and the concentration of human footprints in given areas. This baseline asset check was complemented by a summary of the historical trends in the regions, compared to the national socio-economic and cultural change picture.<br>Sustainable bioeconomy investments will depend on both local push and a regional/national pull, and need to be enabled through appropriate financial incentives and extensive stakeholder networks and partnerships. The data driven (cluster and survey) analysis in this report revealed both opportunities and challenges for the further development of bioeconomy. The use of both types of analysis must be buttressed by an effective and efficient knowledge transfer process. Key to the success of such a transfer are expanded knowledge hubs and truly participatory networks. These networks must bring together collaborating entities which encompass private business, financial organisations, NGOs and government (local to national). Overall, the transition to a more bioeconomy based development path in Colombia needs to be both ‘measured’ (taking full advantage of the evidence base anchored to a comprehensive capital asset check and stakeholder preferences) and regionally diversified building on in situ natural resource endowments.