Diálogo de política sobre bioeconomía para el desarrollo sostenible en Colombia

The report analyzes bioeconomy visions in Colombia based on a 2019 expert workshop, concluding that a 'bioresources' vision—balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability—currently predominates. While sectors like agriculture, biochemistry, bio-pharmaceuticals, and bioenergy show varying alignments with biotechnology or bioecology visions, common barriers include land tenure insecurity, poor rural road infrastructure, and the risk of overexploiting commercial species. The document argues that for a bioeconomy to be truly sustainable, Colombia must move beyond viewing biodiversity as a mere competitive advantage and instead integrate holistic monitoring of environmental outcomes and inclusive regional development.

• The predominant vision of bioeconomy in Colombia is the 'bioresources' vision, which seeks to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability and focuses on rural and peripheral regions.
• Colombia's official definition of bioeconomy, established in the green growth policy, describes it as an economy that manages biodiversity and biomass efficiently and sustainably to create value-added products, processes, and services through knowledge and innovation.
• Sectoral visions vary: the bio-pharmaceutical sector follows a linear innovation model typical of a 'biotechnology' vision, while the agriculture sector incorporates strong 'bioecology' elements regarding ethics and sustainability standards.
• The bioenergy sector aims for a national energy matrix with at least 30% biomass participation, primarily utilizing residual biomass.
• A critical social barrier to a sustainable bioeconomy is land tenure insecurity; approximately 60% of rural properties in Colombia lack formal property rights, hindering investment and credit access.
• Rural infrastructure is a major bottleneck, with 75% of tertiary roads in poor condition, which complicates the flow of biomass and the establishment of local processing plants.
• There is a risk that treating biodiversity solely as a commercial competitive advantage could lead to the overexploitation of high-interest species or the loss of less commercial varieties.

APA

Canales, N., & González, J. G. (2020). Diálogo de política sobre bioeconomía para el desarrollo sostenible en Colombia. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/200517a-ortiz-canales-colombia-bioec-workshop-spanish-1.pdf

Chicago

Canales, Nella, and Juanita Gómez González. Diálogo de política sobre bioeconomía para el desarrollo sostenible en Colombia. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2020. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/200517a-ortiz-canales-colombia-bioec-workshop-spanish-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Canales |first1=Nella |last2=González |first2=Juanita Gómez |title=Diálogo de política sobre bioeconomía para el desarrollo sostenible en Colombia |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=May 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/200517a-ortiz-canales-colombia-bioec-workshop-spanish-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canales2020dilogo, author = {Canales, Nella and González, Juanita Gómez}, title = {{Diálogo de política sobre bioeconomía para el desarrollo sostenible en Colombia}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/200517a-ortiz-canales-colombia-bioec-workshop-spanish-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }