Presentation of Juan Jaén, membero of the Regional Committee of CSU ROLAC, on the Priority Area of Biodiversity for the #ICSUFocalPointsinLAC workshop in Universidad de Panamá March 9-10, 2015

1. Panel: Regional Office
for Latin America and
the Caribbean (ROLAC)
Priority Area
Biodiversity

3. Biodiversity, world’s natural capital, is the result of millions of years of
organic evolution tailored by the hand of the environment. It
comprises the living component of the Life Supporting System of our
planet and is the source of numerous and vital ecosystem services.

4. The biodiversity of Mesoamerica represents the confluence of flora
and fauna from two biogeographic regions, the Nearctic of North
America and the Neotropical of South and Central America and the
Caribbean. Although the region contains only 0.5 percent of the
world’s land surface, because of the variety of its ecosystems and
its location, which links the Americas’ northern and southern
biotas, Mesoamerica is home to a disproportionate share—about 7
percent—of the planet’s biological diversity.
For example,Panama, has 929 species of birds — more
than Canada and the United States combined. Belize, a tiny
country is home to more than 150 species of mammals, 540
species of birds, and 152 species of amphibians and reptiles.
Mexico possesses the world’s largest variety of reptiles (717) and
4,000 species of plants used for medicinal purposes. In
Guatemala’s high central mountains, nearly 70 percent of the
vascular plants are endemic.

6. Priority Area: Biodiversity
The ICSU ROLAC biodiversity science plan identified several
research and policy priorities for the LAC region
• The evaluation of biodiversity and ecosystem services,
• the consolidation of a network on ecological observatories,
• the development of a regional-scale assessment of the impacts
of invasive species,
• the transference of biodiversity and biocultural knowledge into
sustainable economic activities.

7. Biodiversity
Knowledge, preservation and utilization of
biodiversity of all countries of the Latin
American and Caribbean region, and to
ensure that the scientific community of the
smaller countries of the region are fully
integrated in DIVERSITAS.

8. Is an international program of
biodiversity science which addresses
critical biodiversity issues; produces and
synthesis new biodiversity knowledge to
address the global science priorities; it
ensures an engagement of the
biodiversity science community with
policy and decision makers.
http://www.diversitas-international.org/

11. • 1 mammalian species
every 400 years
• 1 bird specie/200 years
Today…………...
10,000 times higher than
the natural rate!!
• 20-75 species
plants/animals per day?
Natural rate
The loss of biodiversity constitutes a critical problem for
human existence to the extent that biodiversity science is
amply recognized as a priority area of scientific research in
both the developed and developing world.

15. The priority research themes recommended by the SPG on Biodiversity
are:
• Development of georeferenced data bases and completion of biological
inventories for testing hypotheses on the large-scale planetary patterns of
biodiversity and for detecting the impacts of global change drivers, climate
change included, on biodiversity, with emphasis on the major knowledge gaps,
as well as on the opportunities provided by LAC´s model ecological gradients.
• Synthesis of molecular phylogenetic information for the region with the aim of
detecting phylogen etic patterns and phylogenetic diversity in the biota of Latin
America and Caribbean.
• Evaluation of the biodiversity and ecosystem services on managed and
unmanaged landscapes and of the conservation status of organisms that play
known important ecological roles, including biological control agents and
pollinators.
• Consolidation of a network of Ecological Observatories in LAC to undertake
experimental studies and long-term monitoring on the impact of climate and
land use changes on biodiversity.
• Development of a regional-scale assessment of the impacts of invasive
species in the context of early warning systems.
• Transference of biodiversity and biocultural knowledge into sustainable
economic activities, including any benefits of bioprospection, and the
conservation of critical ecosystem services.
• Finding solutions for the implementation of biodiversity conservation
measures in managed landscapes and seascapes.
• Development of studies on the ecosystem service value of urban biodiversity.

17. In 2013 Access-Benefit-Sharing (ABS) a workshop for Latin America
and the Caribbean was coorganized by ICSU ROLAC, Diversitas,
SCNAT (Académie de Sciences Naturelles de Suisse) e IUBS
(International Union of Biological Sciences).
The aim of this workshop was to develop a guide to promote
dialogue between researchers working with genetic resources and
decision makers who are the focal points responsible for
implementing international regulations of ABS in the LAC. This
workshop included examples of good practices in the region and the
positions of other users, such as indigenous communities. This can
be a pilot Project to: 1) establish a dialogue between science and
policy, 2) promote actions of mutual benefit and 3) promote
international cooperation.
DIVERSITAS, ICSU ROLAC, SCNAT, and IUBS were the organizers.
There were 30 participants among academicians, policy makers and
indigenous from 9 countries of the region.
ACCESS AND BENEFIT SHARING (ABS) IN LAC: A
DIALOGUE BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLICY
FOR ACADEMIC RESEARCH

18. • The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol
(NP) is an appropiate international regulatory freamework for ABS
• ABS is important for non-comercial biodiversity research (academic
research): a lever for valuing genetic resources and associated traditional
knowledge.
• ABS is a cross-cutting issue invoving different governmental agencies and
stakeholders groups.

19. Challenges in biodiversity for ROLAC:
• The rescue of local knowledge on biodiversity
• To put an end to deforestation, fragmentation and loss of
soils, halting the habitat and biodiversity loss for wildlife
• To encourage economic activities based on the sustainable
use of biodiversity
• To establish relationships between biodiversity and infectious
vector-borne diseases in the context of environmental and
social change
• To identify conflicts and priorities between local and regional
provision of ecosystem services and global strategies to
mitigate carbon emissions,
• Proper management of the mutual dependence between
agrobiodiversity and traditional rural communities
• To develop mitigation measures and adaptations to global
climate change
• To persuade governments and the society at large that the
loss of biodiversity at any level, from the genetic to the
ecosystem, is against human well-being and the poverty
eradication, among others.

20. Exploring the
canopy
Barro Colorado,
Panama

21. Panama Biomuseo by Frank Gehry
Occupying a site on the Amador Casueway at the entrance to the
Panama Canal, the 4,000 m2 Biomuseo by Frank Gehry includes eight
galleries.