In the context of risk management and in the face of environmental and economic challenges such as climate change, coastal erosion, water insecurity, and the accelerated loss of biodiversity, among others, the concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has emerged. Over the past decade, this appealing concept has been consolidated as an integrative approach that seeks to address socio-environmental challenges through the sustainable management of socio-ecological systems.  The United Nations Environment Assembly defines NbS as “actions that protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems to effectively and adaptively address societal challenges, simultaneously providing benefits for human well-being and biodiversity.” In this way, NbS represents a paradigm shift from traditional solutions based exclusively on grey infrastructure, which are now insufficient in facing many large and complex contemporary challenges. The relevance of NbS resides in their capacity to generate multiple, synergistic benefits through ecosystem services and the strengthening of socio-ecological resilience. This approach recognizes the interdependence of nature and culture, and much of its success depends on how communities perceive and acknowledge the multiple benefits socio-ecological systems provide for human well-being. Therefore, NbS must emphasize the need for participatory, equitable, and inclusive processes to ensure their legitimacy and long-term sustainability. NbS encompass actions for the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of ecosystems. Although they offer multifunctional and cost-effective benefits, their implementation faces diverse challenges. Several international frameworks acknowledge NbS as priority strategies to confront climate change and biodiversity loss, promoting guidelines for their adoption at different scales. Among these frameworks are the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), the Sendai Framework (2015–30), and the Paris Agreement (2015). However, it is not enough to only secure financing or display technical feasibility. It is also necessary to establish a coherent legal framework, generate open and...

Eng: The articulation of knowledge, expertise, and experiences from different social actors is essential for the identification of alternatives and solutions for the management of natural heritage, its sustainable use, and equitable exploitation. In this intergroup we focus on wetland and coastal socio-ecological systems, in Colombia and beyond, but invite those with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and expertise, to join. Esp: La articulación de conocimientos, pericia y experiencia de diferentes actores sociales es esencial para la identificación de alternativas y soluciones para la gestión del patrimonio natural, su uso sostenible y su explotacion equitativo. En este intergrupo nos centramos en los los sistemas socioecológicos costeros y de los humedales, tanto en Colombia como en el resto del mundo, pero invitamos a unirse a personas con diversos antecedentes, perspectivas y experiencia.

In this interdialogue I spoke with my friend and colleague Rafael Hurtado from within his office at the National University of Colombia in Bogota, where he is currently serving as the director of the physics department.  Hurtado is a particle physicist and complex systems science researcher and practitioner. He leads the university’s econophysics and sociophysics group, and for 17 years now has taught an innovative interdisciplinary course on socio-physics.  He also leads an intercultural national water monitoring network called “REMONA,” which is built on principles of complexity and citizen science.  As is the beauty of a conversation centered around complex systems, order, patterns, and a shared love of physics, as well as the utilization of science for positive social and ecological impact, our conversation spanned a wide-range of topics, from music and art to urban movements and growth, to epidemiology, language, water and how complexity and mutual respect can form the basis of fruitful collaborations with Indigenous Peoples.  I began by asking Hurtado how an internationally educated Colombian particle physicist found his way into an eclectic career in complex systems science within a notoriously disordered country. Timestamps 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:03:50 – From Particle Physics to Social Science 00:08:10 – Sociophysics and Econophysics 00:13:35 – Teaching, Evolution, and Student Impact 00:17:10 – Modeling Real-World Systems and the Value of Curiosity 00:20:40 – Modeling the Pandemic in Colombia 00:24:20 – Core Principles of Complex Systems Science 00:28:20 – Urban Growth, Mobility, and Self-Organization in Cities 00:35:10 – Discovering Complexity in Music 00:39:40 – The Logic and Freedom of Marimba Music 00:47:40 – The Disappearance of Musical and Linguistic Diversity 00:51:20 – The Origins and Stability of Human Language 00:55:14 – Language, Music, and the Emergence of Meaning 01:07:05 – Art, Painting, and Artistic Evolution 01:14:00 – Water, Knowledge, and Complexity 01:23:10...

As an official in Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office, I was a member of an interdisciplinary team that documented the issues faced by artisanal fishermen. I soon became aware of a serious widespread problem which receives minimal public attention. Those who engage in fishing activities in lentic inland waters, such as lakes, ponds and “ciénagas”, often share a common concern: the waters on which they depend have not been properly demarcated. In other words, the delineation process, known locally as “deslinde,” has not been completed to define the boundaries between ecosystems belonging to The Colombian State and those areas where private property rights apply. This is not a recent issue, on the contrary, this represents a long-standing information gap. The State does not have clear data in regards to delimited wetlands and academia has not extensively explored the problems associated with this process. The consequences of this lack of information are severe. Some of the most well-known include the appropriation of amphibious shores (floodplain lakes referred to in Colombia as “playones”), the loss of fauna and flora due to changes in land use, an increase in property concentration, and the abandonment of collective practices in flood-prone areas. This situation particularly affects the ciénagas, which are wetlands that play a crucial role in mitigating rising water levels during periods of heavy precipitation. They also help to regulate river flows and support the reproductive cycles of fish. Furthermore, there has not been a participatory process to delimit the ciénagas, where the limits of the wetlands are decided with the support of the local population. It is essential to recognize that rural communities are an integral part of these ecosystems, but the Colombian State fails to acknowledge the interdependence that exists between wetland ecosystems and artisanal fishermen. These fishermen, in many cases, have lived in...

In this interdialogue I spoke to Juan Manuel Quinche, an anthropologist from Bogota, Colombia, who at the time was completing an Erasmus Mundus Master’s Programme in Human Rights Policy and Practice in Europe.  Quinche has researched and worked on interrelated human and environmental rights issues within Colombia’s complex and often frustrating socio-political landscape, both as an official in the Colombian Ombudsman office, and as a graduate student at the National University of Colombia.  Much of his attention has been focused on the Northern Colombian wetlands and floodplain lakes known as “cienagas,” and the fishing and peasant communities that live amongst them. This is a fascinating and neglected region in the Lower Magdalena River basin, and much of our conversation focused on the cienagas as complex socio-ecological systems in which traditional fishermen and the wetlands coevolved, the long history and present realities of violent land appropriation in Colombia, and the importance of demarcating these vital and threatened wetlands.