The objective of the workshop Dialogues on Infrastructure and Governance in the Colombian Amazon, held in Guasca (Cundinamarca) on September 25-26, 2019, was to constructively build the action plan (Hoja de Ruta) of the Community of Practice and Learning (CoP-L) for the Colombian mosaic. The methodology used for the Colombian mosaic included three preliminary
meetings during May, June, and July to create the basis for the creation of the CoP-L. The Colombian organization Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS) had a key role in the consolidation in Colombia of the CoP-L by linking to local actors, providing information, and jointly developing the methodology; WWF-Colombia also contributed facilitation of the events and preparation of the methodology.
The initial set of meetings allowed for the exchange of institutional visions and experiences of local governance among FCDS, WWF-Colombia, three other NGOs that are active in the Colombian Amazon (Amazon Conservation Team, Fundación GAIA Amazonas, and Fondo Acción), and officials of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Transport. The result of these meetings was a shared understanding of conceptual elements regarding the development of infrastructure in the Amazon region, and participatory construction of challenges and proposals for the Community of Practice and Learning.
The workshop in September was designed to build on the results obtained in the previous meetings, including the recommendation that participation be broadened to include representatives of local communities and other regional actors. An initial set of presentations allowed the group to share experiences, perspectives and learn about ongoing and planned activities with respect to:
- local perspectives on infrastructure and governance,
- governmental plans for sustainable infrastructure, and
- the opportunities offered by the Green Roads Infrastructure (IVV) project.
Building on the diversity of perspectives from the presentations, participants worked in groups on a series of activities and exercises to produce a synthesis of infrastructure dynamics in the Colombian Amazon:
- Cartographic tools (participatory mapping) to show the relationships between infrastructure, the intervention areas of the participating organizations, their effects, and the spatial prioritization proposed.
- An updated timeline of key events related to infrastructure and governance in the Colombian Amazon.
- Reflections on the potential impacts of “business as usual” and the elaboration of desirable future scenarios.
Finally, workshop participants produced an agreed roadmap to 2020 for the strengthening of the learning community based on what, how, when, where and with whom actions need to be carried out in order to deal with the threats in the Colombian Amazon. This discussion included agreements on the operation and monitoring of the CoP-L, as well as the following general lines of action, aimed at strengthening governance and territorial planning around the topic of infrastructure:
- Develop capacity-building processes to support and empower local institutions and communities to participate in infrastructure governance processes within the current regulatory framework.
- Undertake an analysis of the available information and the existing gaps for decision-making, with emphasis on the departments of Caquetá, Putumayo, and Guaviare.
- Generate agreements with Territorial Entities for the implementation of green road infrastructure guidelines, through a capacity building process led by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Transportation.
