We designed this section in the webpage of the Grupo ARCO to maintain a direct communication with the (Colombian) society. The shared anonymity is the origin of many evils. A topic so important for all, like the conservation or the destruction of the biodiversity, has to be the object of an open debate where the country gets to know the advances and obstacles in the scientific field, and the institutional and political performance. We hope that the permanent flow of information mobilizes the country towards the consolidation of a system of conservation areas that is correctly selected and managed in an efficient way. This page is also for you. We invite you to participate with your opinions and communicate with us.

Inform V:  CAPACITY BUILDING IN SYSTEMATIC CONSERVATION PLANNING IN COLOMBIA - THE CASE OF FOCALIZE -

In the year 2007 the Grupo ARCO started a capacity building program in the field of the selection and management of conservation areas for the environmental institutions in Colombia. It was concentrated around the transfer of the software FOCALIZE; a tool for the systematic selection of wildlife reserves.

FOCALIZE was constructed and refined during 15 years of research. The first version of the method was published in Fandiño-Lozano (1996). Later it was updated and completed in some aspects, such as the calculation of minimum targets with a biological base; and not arbitrary as has been the tradition in biological conservation (Fandiño-Lozano & Wyngaarden 2003). In 2003 we handed in the research inform “Priorities of Biological Conservation in Colombia” (in Spanish) to the National Parks organization and two years later we published it as a book with the same title (Fandiño-Lozano & Wyngaarden 2005).

So, having done the gap analysis and the selection of areas that are necessary the overcome the gaps in the system of national parks for the whole country, we decided to transfer FOCALIZE to those authorities that are in charge of the conservation of nature and that were interested to participate in the process. It does not make sense to develop a decision support tool and not to make it accessible to those who make those decisions. The institutions that are in charge of biological conservation need a planning tool that is at the same time flexible and rigorous and that permits them to consolidate a system of conservations areas without losing the coherence with the whole country and in harmony with the many decisions, in other fields, they have to take every day. The society has to benefit of the scientific progress through the formation of human resources.

It is surprising to see how in the wars in modern science to obtain leadership and resources for research, it is often forgotten that scientific knowledge has to serve for something.  Large part of the intellectual production is only published in scientific journals in English, as is tradition in the strongest academies of the world. Publications that are almost inaccessible for large part of the community. In our country, where there are so many urgent problems to be solved, it is surprising to see that in the recent measurements of scientific performance, the low values that are assigned to publications in Spanish and in not specialized journals. The transmission of knowledge to our own people does not pay, does not gives points.

But the achievements are more rewarding then the numbers of points scored. For the Grupo ARCO it has been very rewarding to see what one can achieve in a few days work with the people. We are positively surprised by the rapid understanding of the method and its differences with other contributions available in the world, the critical appraisal of the data of each region, the management of the tool, the construction of various regional scenarios of conservation priorities, the interpretation of the results and the clarity of where the institutions have to put the effort in order to consolidate the system of protected areas. We hope that we can show that it is possible to construct a country that innovates by itself and thinks differently; constructed with affection, modesty and democratically.

Three areas will always be selected, that contain ecosystems that are at the moment not protected:

• The east slope of the Nudo de Pasto. It comprises the northern part of the Ovejas reserve till the Amazon part of Nariño. It includes paramos, different types of Andean forests and the forests of the piedmont belonging to the chorological types 59, 60 and 1
• The west slope of the Nudo de Pasto. To the west of the Azufral reserve till the plains towards the Pacific Ocean. Mainly consisting of Andean forests belonging to chorological type 57
• The valleys of the Patia, Juananbu and Guaitara rivers connected to the southern part of the Western Cordillera. It includes the Andean forests of chorological type 56 and de dry forests of chorological type 58.

Source: Informe final Convenio 61 de 2007, CORPONARIÑO-Grupo ARCO

2. CAM (Huila department)

There five areas that always will be selected that contain ecosystems that at the moment are not protected:

• The Tatacoa desert (shrublands and dry forest of chorological type 46)
• The northern part of the Eastern Cordillera, south of the Sumapaz National Park (paramos, and sub-humid and dry forests of the chorological types 38 and 45)
• The north-western part of the Magdalena valley (dry forest in the valley and sub-humid Andean forests belonging to chorological types 48 and 51)
• The central part of the Magdalena valley (dry and sub-humid foothill and low Andean forests for the chorologic types 45 and 51)
• The Magdalena valley around the town of Neiva (riverine and dry forest ecosystems of the chorologic type 48 that are almost totally transformed and that need restoration)

Source: Informe final Convenio 100 de 2007, CAM-Grupo ARCO

3. CORNARE (Antioquia department)

For the implementation of the scenario, the following recommendation are suggested:

• Start the process of the declaration of the proposed protected areas in the Andean zone with still important remnants of Andean ecosystems (Paramo de Sonson, Cuchilla El Tigre, Cañones, El Chaquiro, Monteloro, Mármoles and the southern part of the Nodos y Corredores that have still a connection with the Paramo of Sonson).
• For the highly fragmented remnants of ecosystem MSH8 in the Abejorral municipality, a  detailed analysis has to be done of which are the best conserved and connected remnants in order to start a process of declaration, regeneration and if necessary restoration
• For the Magdalena Medio valley there is no easy solution. It consists only of a small part of the territory of CORNARE that moreover is highly transformed and fragmented. Achieving a viable conservation area for these ecosystems is only possible in close cooperation with neighboring institutions that cover the same ecosystems.

Source: Informe final Convenio 264 de 2008, CORNARE-Grupo ARCO

The agreed scenario contains five areas:

• The central part of the Central Cordillera with the Hermosas and Los Nevados National Parks.  Paramos and high Andean forests of chorological type 50 and 51
• The Central Cordillera around the Nevados del Huila National Park containing also the ecosystems of chorological type 50 and 51.
• The northern part of the Central Cordillera with fragments of the Andean and sub-Andean forest of chorological type 51.
• The Eastern Cordillera with fragments of Andean and sub-Andean forest of chorological type 40 and 45
• The Magdalena valley; strongly transformed and with only some fragments of the ecosystems of chorological type 48.

Source: Informe final Convenio 768 de 2008, CORTOLIMA-Grupo ARCO

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