Bogotá, Colombia – January 2026 – From the high-altitude Páramos that supply water to millions, to the arid landscapes of Indigenous Wayúu communities, senior officials from Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) traveled across Colombia's diverse agricultural landscapes. Over 7 days, they met with farmers, Indigenous leaders, government ministers, and private sector representatives to witness how the FAO-UNDP “Scaling up Climate Ambition on Land Use and Agriculture through Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans (SCALA)” programme and The Nature Conservancy’s Future Landscapes project are turning climate promises into practical solutions.
The mission brought together key Colombian institutions including the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD), the agricultural development bank-FINAGRO, and the biodiversity finance initiative-BIOFIN, alongside major producer federations like the Colombian Federation of Cattle Ranchers (FEDEGAN) and the National Federation of Oil Palm Growers (FEDEPALMA), with coordination support from GIZ Colombia's IKI Interface Project.
The numbers tell a powerful story. Through Germany's International Climate Initiative (IKI), SCALA has analyzed climate risks across the country’s 32 departments in 16 agricultural sectors, documented 15 traditional adaptation practices, and established monitoring and evaluation systems to track progress in line with the global goal on adaptation, including soil management and health through the Soil Doctors programme, water availability, and local agrobiodiversity through adaptive production and farming system implemented in “Community Demonstration Training Centres (CDCs)” in vulnerable Indigenous Peoples’ communities. More than 18 community organizations run “community climate action laboratories”, “Restoration and Climate Action Advocacy Schools”, as well as “territorial observatories” on agrifood systems, supporting the dialogue between ancestral knowledge, modern science and local leadership for the implementation of concrete climate actions.
Ulf Jaeckel, BMUKN's International Adaptation division, said what impressed the delegation most was the integration across systems, building frameworks where farmers have better information, governments have better tools, and investors see clear paths to support sustainable agriculture.
From highlands to arid lands: Impact across landscapes
In the Chingaza and Sumapaz Páramos – high-altitude mountain ecosystems and critical water sources for Bogotá – SCALA is supporting a transformative shift: strengthening local leadership and enabling farmers to become certified restoration experts. Through a partnership with Colombia's national training service, rural communities are receiving formal certification for their adaptation skills. They are establishing nurseries, restoring land, and managing water for both their livelihoods and the eight million people downstream.
Zoraida Fajardo, SCALA's National Coordinator for UNDP Colombia, noted the Páramos supply 70 percent of Bogotá’s water and are threatened by climate change. The communities living there possess the essential knowledge to protect them. The programme ensures this local knowledge is valued, documented, and rewarded, contributing to the sustainable management of these vital ecosystems.
In La Guajira, one of Colombia's arid regions, three community demonstration centers now benefit over 200 families, enabling the production of 13 tons of food per hectare annually using Indigenous techniques adapted for climate extremes. Locally-installed weather stations provide vital climate data, helping farmers decide when to plant, what to grow, and how to conserve water.
Jorge Gutiérrez, SCALA's National Coordinator for FAO Colombia, highlighted how the programme systematized these practices in the new publication "La Casa de la Adaptación" (The House of Adaptation), a guide now helping other communities across Colombia and the region learn from traditional climate solutions of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant and smallholder farming communities.
Making the business case for sustainability
SCALA’s work demonstrates that climate-smart agriculture also makes economic sense and delivers tangible benefits for farmers and local communities. Through cost-benefit analyses on country-prioritized agricultural value chains—including rice, sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, and livestock— the programme is generating evidence to help shape voluntary agreement models and inform investment decisions, showing that integrated adaptation and mitigation practices can deliver productivity gains, cost savings, and improved resilience for farmers.
This work is not taking place in isolation; rather, it highlights the crucial role the private sector can play in advancing climate action. For example, FEDEGAN reported that practices such as silvopastoral systems increase milk production by 36 percent, forage quality by 10 percent, and productivity by 23 percent, while also reducing emissions and enhancing climate resilience. This evidence is directly informing FEDEGAN’s 2026–2030 roadmap, which has a clear objective: to increase productivity without expanding into forests by scaling regenerative practices.
Similarly, FEDEPALMA is integrating climate risk analysis into its core sustainability strategy. With 99 percent of Colombian palm oil verified as deforestation-free, the sector is now strengthening the resilience of its production systems against droughts, floods, and temperature shifts, while also enhancing access to sustainable markets.
These efforts confirm the key role that programmes such as SCALA play in strengthening the agricultural sector’s contribution to national climate goals and in catalyzing effective private sector partnerships. As noted by María Consuelo Briceño, FEDEPALMA's Sustainability Manager, producers need tools to quantify risks, identify solutions, and demonstrate to investors that sustainability directly improves profitability.
Financing the future
The mission revealed that the main barrier to scaling climate-smart agriculture is not just technology or finance, but a need for better collaboration and credible data to unlock capital. In response, Colombia's agricultural development bank, FINAGRO, is redesigning credit products to promote ecosystem health and sustainable production.
As highlighted by UNDP-BIOFIN's Bayron Cubillos, Colombia has a 74 percent financing gap for its biodiversity goals, requiring a quadrupling of investment. BIOFIN is mobilizing finance for these targets by coordinating action to direct funds to priority ecosystems. For instance, in the Andean Bear and Water Ecological Corridor, BIOFIN and SCALA are aligning investments with conservation across four municipalities. This protects water and biodiversity while generating actionable evidence for local communities and decision-makers.
Policy progress: From paper to practice
Beyond its impact at the territorial level and among vulnerable communities, SCALA has helped strengthen Colombia’s institutional framework for sustained climate action. Building on the foundation of the NAP-Ag Programme, SCALA supported the development of Colombia’s Comprehensive Climate Change Management Plan for the Agriculture sector (PIGCCS-Agriculture), adopted in 2021 with 54 measurable targets through 2030, and continues to support its implementation by strengthening partnerships, mobilizing evidence, tools and investments in climate-smart action on the ground.
The programme also helped consolidate the National Damage and Loss Assessment System for the agriculture sector – a digital platform that tracks climate impacts in real-time to inform both emergency response and long-term adaptation planning. This system is now embedded in Colombia’s updated climate commitments (NDC 3.0) under the Paris Agreement.
Carlos Capachero, Director of Innovation at Colombia's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, noted that SCALA bridges the gap between international commitments and territorial action, helping develop the tools, data, and partnerships needed for implementation.
Sebastián Burgos, SCALA's regional coordinator at FAO, underscored SCALA’s role as a multi-stakeholder platform for translating national climate commitments into concrete action. He highlighted its contribution to evidence generation, strengthened governance and the mobilization of investments to support the implementation and enhancement of NDCs and NAPs, moving from isolated initiatives toward collaborative and systemic change.
A model for global climate action
As the mission concluded, participants emphasized that Colombia's experience offers global lessons. While nearly all climate commitments prioritize agriculture, implementation remains a universal challenge.
SCALA's integrated approach – combining evidence, policy support, and private sector engagement while centering Indigenous and farmer knowledge – provides a replicable model for action.
Soeren Kirsten of GIZ’s IKI Interfaz Project highlighted Colombia's ecosystem of 49 IKI-supported climate projects, demonstrating the value of long-term, programmatic support through initiatives like SCALA and Future Landscapes. This work shows how sustained efforts deliver measurable impact, strengthening both institutional capacity and multi-actor collaboration.
Anke Wolff from BMUKN reflected that successful adaptation is not just technology transfer, but creating the enabling conditions where sustainable agriculture becomes the obvious choice for farmers, investors, and governments.
With SCALA's support extended through 2028, Colombia is positioned to continue scaling solutions from páramo to desert, and from farm to policy, proving that climate action and agricultural prosperity can grow together.