Paper short abstract:

This research prioritised native plants as a source of natural ingredients for Colombia's bioeconomy and developed a framework for creating sustainable value chains and pathways to improve livelihoods. We applied this framework to the fruit of the naidí palm, assessing challenges and opportunities.

Paper long abstract:

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country globally, potentially having a comparative advantage over less biodiverse countries to shift to a more sustainable, biobased economy. However, Colombia accounts for only 0.27% of natural ingredients exports in Latin America; hence its potential is still unlocked. This research aimed to identify priority native plant species as a source of natural ingredients for Colombia and develop a framework for creating sustainable value chains and pathways to improve local livelihoods as part of the Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project.

A multi-criteria matrix was built by compiling biological, ecological, and social-economic information for 450 useful plant species. Of these, 21 plant species were prioritised. As a case study, we applied a value-chain analysis to the fruit of the naidí palm (Euterpe oleracea) growing along the Pacific Coast of Colombia. We conducted semi-structured interviews involving community-based organisations, private companies, NGOs, international organisations, and universities, to assess the full range of activities and relationships involved in its value creation.

We found that relations of trust between small-scale producers, a low distribution of profits among local collectors, limited profitability supported by external subsidies, and low regional and national demand, characterise its value chain. This could be improved in the short and medium-term by increasing the capacity of cold chains and storage centres, fostering economic incentives for implementing agroforestry systems, developing strategies for promoting traditional diets by using natural ingredients, and improving technology and business capabilities to enhance commercialisation.

Paper short abstract:

A review on the sustainability of wild plant use in the Andean Community revealed the need for context-specific conservation and collaboration with local communities. We discuss how this is informing a socio-ecological approach to identify Important Plant Areas for useful plant species in Colombia.

Paper long abstract:

Overexploitation is the second biggest driver of global plant extinction. Meanwhile, useful plant species are vital to millions of livelihoods, with global conservation efforts increasingly applying the concept of 'conservation-through-use.' We conducted a literature review on the sustainability of wild-collected plant use across Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia—a region of global importance for its biological and cultural richness. Based on 68 articles, results showed that the sustainability of outcomes are context-dependent, with five key themes: plant biology; land tenure; knowledge, resource, and capacity; economics and market pressures; and institutional structures, policy, and legislation. In this presentation, we discuss how these findings are informing a socio-ecological approach to identify and conserve Important Plant Areas (IPAs) for useful plant species in Colombia. Based on a checklist of useful plants of Colombia (>7,000 species), over 300 useful species of conservation concern have been highlighted and potential IPA areas identified. We will outline ongoing research to compare local knowledge and use of plants with IPA conservation prioritisation using social science methods in three case study areas in Colombia.

Paper short abstract:

Through the combination of biogeographic and social science research methods, diversity hotspots for edible plants in Colombia will be highlighted, and gaps between the potential and the actual use of such diversity will be uncovered at a regional level.

Paper long abstract:

Colombia is the world's second most biodiverse country. It hosts more than 30.000 plant species, as well as an unrivaled number of natural ecosystems. Of these species, at least 7.000 have reported uses for humans, and 3.500 are known as foods. However, due to more than six decades of internal conflict, increasing involvement in the global trade market and diet homogenisation, Colombia is experiencing widespread poverty and food insecurity. Following the growing attention recently given by the scientific community to the economic and nutritional benefits of revitalizing underutilized edible plants within developing countries, the present study explores the link between edible plant richness, distribution and consumption in Colombia. The paper aims to answer three fundamental research questions: what does Colombian edible plant diversity look like? what is the distribution of Colombian edible species diversity across different ecoregions? and what gaps can we identify in the current commercialization and consumption of natural products in Colombia? Through the combination of spatial analysis and social science research methods, this paper maps the distribution of edible plant species over Colombian ecoregions and highlights the extent to which their commercialization and consumption by local human populations depends on it. The results will provide a solid basis for future research on the prioritization of underutilized edible species for revitalization both at the local and national level, stressing the vital importance of such processes for enhancing food security and sustainable development in the country.

Paper short abstract:

Community oriented research for protection of traditional knowledge needs careful evaluation. Engaging ‘citizen science’ in ethnobotany is a relatively new approach, and we report on the data collected in Colombia using Survey123: the benefits and the problems.

Paper long abstract:

Traditional ecological knowledge is rapidly being eroded and requires urgent measures. Engaging ‘citizen science’ in collection of ethnobotanical knowledge is a relatively new approach (although traditional ethnobotanists have always worked together with the knowledge holders). We have been collecting ethnobotanical data on the use of plants and fungi in Colombia using Survey123 (ArcGIS), on mobile phones. This has been done by training local people, engaging the research processes, and sharing the results. Community oriented research for protection of traditional knowledge requires careful evaluation and improvement. Was Survey123 an appropriate means to collect the data? Were the data collected sufficiently accurate? Has the knowledge been put in an appropriate form for the communities? Has the involvement of local citizen science researchers helped protect traditional knowledge, for future generations? We outline the benefits and the problems with this approach, and some potential improvements of these techniques for the future.

Paper short abstract:

This research explores how much the public in Colombia knows and uses plants and fungi, by using a mixed-methods approach. Our results suggest that people use, know and give more importance to plants than fungi and that patterns of knowledge homogenization are predominant in urban contexts.

Paper long abstract:

Biodiversity holds immense opportunities to contribute to sustainable and equitable development, especially in biodiversity rich, tropical nations. Yet, there is little known about how much the general public in these countries understand and use native plants and fungi. This research aims to bridge this gap by exploring how much the public knows and uses plants and fungi in the second most biodiverse country in the world, Colombia. A mixed-methods approach consisting of an online poll and semi-structured interviews was used to contextualize responses. We found that people use, know and give more importance to plants in comparison to fungi. Respondents identified eight uses of plants, on average, out of 19 categories available in the survey. Use and knowledge of plants and fungi were found to vary significantly in relation to age and location of respondents. Our findings suggest that there is homogenization in terms of the knowledge about plants and uses in the urban population of Colombia, which can potentially lead to the loss of this knowledge.