The Case for Creating a Biodiversity Data & Policy Agency for Latin America

Latin America, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), harbors 60% of the world's terrestrial biodiversity. This relatively small region boasts an incredible wealth of natural resources. But how can the world, especially its most vulnerable populations, harness the benefits of this vast biodiversity data? The establishment of a regional mechanism for fostering integration is essential. The following paragraphs are an invitation to explore and envision how to achieve this ambitious, yet, vital goal.

Latin America, as a major reservoir of biodiversity, is a critical source of biodiversity data. The continued loss of biodiversity in this region could lead to the deterioration of ecosystems that provide vital services on both regional and global scales. These ecosystems are essential for supplying food, water, and climate regulation, all crucial for life's sustenance.

UNEP also highlights that the Amazon Rainforest alone contains 10% of the world's biodiversity. Additionally, the Patagonia and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef are rich with diverse marine species. Together, these areas underscore the region's global environmental significance. Despite this significance, urban growth and agriculture in Latin America are land-intensive sectors that stand to threaten Latin America’s biodiversity.

Latin America is rapidly growing both in terms of increases to the region’s urban scale in its cities and the region’s role within global food security networks. This year, the World Economic Forum has highlighted the strategic importance of Latin America in global food security due to its production potential, its strategic geographic location at the geopolitical level, and its capacity to maintain a labor force. The report also notes Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions in the developing world, with most of its population living in cities.

The relationship between biodiversity conservation and food security requires a shift toward regenerative agriculture and sustainable urban planning practices for Latin America and the Caribbean. Both shifts represent a major challenge for the region. Both shifts are compounded by climate change as an additional threat to world biodiversity.

Biodiversity knows no borders or administrative boundaries. Rather, ecosystems often provide ecosystem services across border communities, including water, air quality, or soil quality that are difficult to manage from an administrative standpoint without understanding biodiversity hotspots as they exist. This will require transnational cooperation and efforts toward their protection. 

Transnational cooperation is crucial, as the most important biodiversity areas are not overseen by any single country. Instead, biodiversity hotspots exist in regional corridors. To preserve critical biodiversity in the region, a regional agency for biodiversity data collection and analysis could set key indicators for biodiversity to maximize the benefits from standardized data collection and identify the main issues needed to safeguard biodiversity in the region.

Setting a Regional Biodiversity Data Agenda

Current open data repository initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean disseminate data contributed by individuals, organizations, academia, and governments, yet they lack cohesive regional strategies and objectives. At present, there is no effective regional data governance mechanism that enables state-level governments to generate, process, and collectively share information within a series of unified goals. Establishing a joint agenda that prioritizes issues and fosters shared solutions through cooperative efforts could significantly enhance outcomes, one of them being biodiversity protection.

Integrated regional cooperation mechanisms could support conservation efforts, knowledge exchange, and joint financing for policy implementation. Given the existing gaps in data collection and governance, Latin America and the Caribbean are uniquely positioned to pioneer a new standard for biodiversity policy at the regional level, driven by the region’s interconnected ecosystems.

Each country participating in the regional agency would generate and collect information according to pre-established “Key Indicators for Biodiversity.” The Latin American and Caribbean Regional Biodiversity Data and Policy Agency would put into action the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s (ECLAC) argument in their analysis of data governance models for the region that "transboundary interoperability of data and management platforms is highly desirable,” because these platforms allow “for the reduction of costs and the complexity of generating multiple bilateral agreements by interacting based on standards agreed upon for the entire region.”

Following the ECLAC recommendation, to create a shared data platform within a strategic regional agenda, a Regional Data and Policy Agency, would generate an open-source regional knowledge network and data infrastructure protocol for both academic and government institutions. These protocols would allow a wide array of actors to better determine conservation approaches, more effectively protect the region’s biodiversity, and align regional priorities that have not yet been determined.

Establishing a data analysis and policy agency that leverages existing open data repositories, such as those created by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) or the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), would be a significant step forward. The creation of such an agency would enable the generation of more regional actions based on data analysis and facilitate the articulation of mechanisms for data exchange and interoperability.

Precedents and Strategies for Transboundary Issues

Biodiversity is a longstanding transboundary policy issue. Initiatives like the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN), created in 1993, included the concept of building collaborations between countries to achieve the conservation goals for protected areas of high biodiversity. More recently, the UN Biodiversity Lab (UNBL) founded in 2013, provides a platform for member countries to use spatial and biodiversity information. However, this UN initiative remains country-based and is limited to national implementation programs for biodiversity protection and preservation.

Initiatives such as the IABIN and the UNBL could be brought to a new level by establishing a regional data analysis and policy unit for biodiversity. This new supranational organization would transition from serving merely as passive data repositories toward platforms that actively engage in data collection, analysis, and translation for decision makers. Such a dual function would provide specific inputs for public policy, with a focus on resource prioritization for biodiversity protection. The agency would develop ecosystem-based data clusters within each region to analyze specific areas influenced by multiple countries, thereby fostering cohesive public policies, programs, and joint strategic initiatives. Building on the framework of the already-established UN Biodiversity Lab, a Latin American and Caribbean Regional Data Analysis and Policy Agency for Biodiversity could be formed by leveraging existing public data repositories. This new entity would establish common work agendas and, crucially, set parameters for data interoperability among countries. Coordination of the agency would be managed by a secretariat, ideally housed within a multilateral institution. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF), already hosting the UN Biodiversity Lab, would be well-suited to host this platform, ensuring streamlined operations and resource allocation.

 The Regional Agency objectives may include:

• Promote cross-border data interoperability in a regional pilot effort
• Mobilize data for regional strategies and supporting policies
• Track species growth and decline
• Propose interregional actions for species protection and conservation
• Generate coordination mechanisms for programs and projects related to biodiversity conservation across the region
• Manage biodiversity data regionally
• Determine land use patterns that pressure conservation spaces and generate insights into how best to manage land to promote and protect biodiversity
• Create an integrated repository of information for biodiversity research

 In addition to the agency’s shared objectives, the data and briefings produced by the Agency would support actions and policies for biodiversity conservation by identifying risks and opportunities beyond national borders. The agency would also aim to actively involve indigenous communities from across the region, many of whom have ancestral homelands which cut across contemporary land borders.

A Stepping Stone for New Models of Climate Adaptation

Regional cooperation through the integration of a biodiversity data agency and its mechanisms can facilitate conservation efforts, idea exchange, and joint budgeting to implement policies. These actions serve as a foundation for broader cooperation in areas where data sharing and analysis are crucial for sustainable development.

Thus, establishing a Latin American and Caribbean Regional Biodiversity Data and Policy Agency is essential for efforts to establish institutions with data analysis and policy at the core. These institutions would adhere to best practices and regulations concerning privacy and data-processing to maintain independence and validity of findings. This agency, in particular, will be a crucial effort in advancing biodiversity protection and regional oversight, laying the groundwork for shared governance models more broadly. The agency will enable the region to address controversial and sensitive issues that are vital for biodiversity protection yet intersect with economic growth, job creation, migration, crime rates, land use changes from conservation to agriculture, deforestation, as well as illegal logging or mining. Lastly, a transboundary governance and data model is particularly relevant for the extraction of critical minerals like lithium, copper, and nickel, where South America holds significant reserves that can positively contribute to a green transition in the region and abroad. If leaders across Latin America and the Caribbean wish to collectively address biodiversity protection challenges, they must create collaborative spaces for joint data analysis. The Regional Agency should provide a framework to begin safeguarding biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Currently, a major obstacle for countries and cities is the absence of integration and interoperability schemes in the biodiversity data ecosystem. The lack of clear rules or protocols for information sharing hampers coordinated data collection and policy formulation.

Taking the first step, based on existing regional collaboration to collect biodiversity data, the establishment of a Latin American and Caribbean Regional Data Analysis Agency could foster a culture of data quality improvement. This agency would facilitate discussions and serve as a regional model for data sharing, promoting regional integration and interoperability.

In a data-driven world, Latin America must capitalize on its potential information resources to enhance the well-being of its people, its ecosystems, and by extension, the planet. Working collaboratively, the region can leverage its strengths and address its weaknesses, setting a precedent for other regional governance practices. Effective collaboration and coordination of regional data and policy are essential for enhancing food security, ensuring safe living conditions, and preserving the vital ecosystem services provided by the region's biodiversity. Given Latin America's unique biodiversity, establishing a regional data agency is feasible and could yield numerous benefits. With abundant data and vast possibilities, the region should seize this opportunity.