Sergio Díaz-Granados (CAF): Conservation in Latin America must be thought of "in terms of ecosystems, not borders."

Environment Editorial, June 2 (EFE).- The executive president of the Latin American and Caribbean Development Bank (CAF), Sergio Díaz-Granados, recalled today that we are accustomed "to seeing Latin America from a political-administrative perspective," but, when it comes to conservation, "it is better to think in terms of ecosystems than national boundaries."

In an interview with EFE during the Mutis Biodiversity Dialogues being held in Madrid this Monday, Díaz-Granados explained that there are actually "14 highly integrated ecosystems," from the biogeographical Chocó, Patagonia, the Gran Chaco, and the Atlantic Forest to the Amazon and the Caribbean reefs, and all of them "serve as carbon sinks, as biodiversity, and support core activities such as energy generation and agriculture."

Therefore, in Latin America, it is "more effective to structure environmental action based on ecosystems" and to ensure that "the bank's strategy revolves around these environments to help preserve them and provide the region with both social and economic stability."

Green financing: towards 10% for biodiversity

To address biodiversity loss in the region, CAF recently launched a $300 million financing program for ecosystem conservation, restoration, and sustainable use. It also set a goal of targeting at least 10% of its project financing to prevent such decline by 2030.

According to its figures, in the last four years, CAF allocated nearly $1.5 billion to biodiversity protection, and by 2024, 41% of its operations were green investments.

The lines of work vary by country: while in Panama there is a lot of interest "in the circular economy, waste management, and the recovery of green spaces within the city," in cities in the Colombian Caribbean there are "coral restoration and wetland recovery projects, and so on in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile."

In Latin America, he asserts, "there is an appetite and commitment" for environmental issues, but "we need to scale up and increase the capacity of programs," a challenge that involves "connecting financing with effective implementation," especially at the local level.

The problem is that there are "18,000 local governments requiring water, sanitation, and green solutions," but it is necessary to "identify the channels" both within the municipal administration and the private sector to act.

Aagesen calls for combining biodiversity and bioeconomy to avoid a sense of "aggrievance."

Common agenda for global challenges

Moving from reflection to action requires "greater coordination among all the environmental summits," as they are often "the same actors" in different forums, and "we need to begin to view multilateral action in a much more comprehensive way."

In this regard, he told EFE that the upcoming COP30 on climate change, to be held in Bethlehem, Brazil, later this year, could "be key" to advancing the biodiversity agenda launched at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, last year, and "will represent a tremendous opportunity to discuss this coordination."

Another important event will be next week's Ocean Conference in Nice, France, which will demonstrate the need for integrated approaches, since its objective "cannot be separated from the biodiversity summit nor be left out of the climate change summit."

Regarding the oceans, over the past three years, the country has invested $1.25 billion in blue economy solutions, as pledged at the Lisbon Ocean Summit. This commitment, it has announced, will be increased in Nice.

Faced with an unstable international context, with geopolitical crises that have displaced environmental attention, Díaz-Granados has insisted on the need for a long-term vision.

"We must have a port of destination," he emphasized, and in the case of Latin America, this "has to be turning the area into a solution region: one that is not in internal conflict, that faces challenges, and that can provide global solutions, both for food and energy." EFE

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