SCALA Colombia | UNDP Climate Change Adaptation

Project details

Introduction

Colombia is the third most populous country in Latin America and preserves a natural wealth, close to 10 percent of the planet’s biodiversity. Climate change impacts are expected to pose significant and long-term effects on fragile and unique ecosystems and accelerate the pace of land degradation, impact water quality and agricultural production. By 2019, 15.8 percent of the population was employed by the agriculture sector, being especially threatened by climate-induced weather events, such as La Niña, whose characteristics are strong periods of drought followed by intense rain. Agriculture in Colombia is indeed vulnerable to soil aridity, erosion, and desertification, all of which already pose serious threats and are expected to increase with climate change, according to the World Bank Knowledge Portal. According to its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2020, Colombia represents only 0.4 percent of global emissions with 71.3 percent of domestic greenhouse gas emissions coming from agriculture and land use.

Country Climate Plans

Colombia submitted its first NDC in 2018, which outlined both mitigation and adaptation goals, as well as means of implementation. In December 2020, Colombia submitted a revised NDC with more ambitious adaptation priorities to increase capacities on private sector and producers in 10 prioritized sub-sectors (rice, maize, potato, beef cattle, dairy, sugar cane, cocoa, banana, coffee and sugar cane). Energy and Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) are considered the most important sector for mitigation.

The revised NDCs state that Colombia is committed to emit a maximum of 169.44 million tonnes of CO2 eq by 2030 (equivalent to a 51 percent reduction in emissions compared to projected emissions in the 2030 scenario of reference). In the agriculture and land use sector, this will be achieved with strategies reducing greenhouse gas emissions in key areas, namely the production of cocoa, rice, coffee, plantation forestry and cattle. Other commitments focus on improving the participation of three regions (Andina, Caribe and Orinoquía) in national agroclimatic roundtables and facilitating access to agroclimatic information for 1 million producers by 2030.

Colombia was part of the IKI-funded NAP-Ag programme from 2015 to 2020, which facilitated the design of the Integrated Climate Change Management Plan for the Agricultural Sectors (Plan Integral de Gestión del Cambio Climático del sector Agropecuario, PIGCCS-Agricultura), and its Action Plan (2019), which represents the national landmark for sectoral climate change planning. It addresses adaptation and mitigation articulately and converges with the broader national and territorial commitments on the stabilization and consolidation of affected areas by the armed conflict and the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Beforehand, the country adopted its NAP in 2012, "Plan Nacional de Adaptación al Cambio Climático (PNACC)”, and a roadmap for its elaboration in 2013, “Hoja de ruta para la elaboración de los planes de adaptación dentro del PNACC”. In 2020, under the adaptation planning funded by Green Climate Fund, the country elaborated a series of Strategies to strengthen the business sector in climate risk management to maintain competitiveness.

Barriers

Colombia has encountered a few notable barriers while implementing its climate plans, such as a lack of local capabilities, limited access to climate information and low involvement of the private sector. To overcome these challenges and to bridge the divide between national and local levels, the SCALA programme offers a range of supports articulated around the primary goal to accelerate the implementation of the NAP, NDCs and the Integrated Climate Change Management Plan for the Agricultural Sector (PIGCCS-Agriculture). The SCALA programme will also build on the achievements made under the NAP-Ag programme and the NDC Partnership Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP).

In line with the NDC and NAP priorities, the SCALA programme and Colombia will prepare for the implementation of adaptation actions in five agricultural sub-sectors: rice, corn, meat and milk, sugar cane and cocoa. This includes field and practical work with communities, unions, institutions, and territorial entities in the three regions of the country with the most significant agricultural potential. Specific activities include capacity-building for institutional actors, development of agroclimatic information at the territorial level, participatory characterization of climate change impacts on sustainable agrifood systems, cost-benefit analysis (CBA), and Evaluation of Damage and Loss tools.

Project details

In Colombia, SCALA focuses on the development of territorial capacities, tools, and information for the implementation of adaptation actions in different geographical areas and priority agricultural value chains such as coffee, rice, maize, meat, dairy, sugarcane, and cocoa, supporting the implementation and improvement of the Integrated Climate Change Management Plan for the Agricultural Sector (PIGCCS-Agriculture) elaborated on sectoral and territorial levels.

To this end, SCALA has contributed to the territorialization of 32 risk and vulnerability analyses in 16 priority agriculture sub-sectors at the departmental level, as well as to the implementation of two territorial observatories in collaboration with the National University and the University of the Andes. These observatories conducted the characterization and participatory analysis of agrifood systems in two priority ecological areas - the Chingaza and Sumapaz moorlands.

SCALA also supported the design of a diploma in 'Food Sustainability for Climate Action', which offers scholarships and training to leaders of farmers' organizations. SCALA's work in the country has enabled the creation and implementation of four Community Climate Action Laboratories in the Moorland areas, with the participation of 18 local associations such as Corcunpaz, Fortaleza de la Montaña and Asoproquinoa, which are scaling up and implementing adaptation and conservation models specific to each of their biodiverse production landscapes.

Through the adaptation dialogues methodology with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, SCALA contributed to the identification and promotion of 15 traditional territorial agricultural practices and techniques (TTTs) that are resilient to climate change. This enabled the development of a report to systematize these TTTs to strengthen locally based transformative adaptation pathways.

2024 achievements and looking ahead

In Colombia, the SCALA programme has also supported a range of community-led climate actions focused on ecological restoration and sustainable land management. Eight workshops were held in rural communities to build skills in restoring native forests and using landscape management tools like drone imagery. A documentary titled "Paramunas el Alma de la Montaña" was launched at COP16, highlighting local climate challenges and adaptation strategies.

SCALA partnered with Javeriana University to launch the High Mountain Ecological Restoration School, training 30 community members to identify environmental issues and design restoration strategies tailored to their regions. Plans are underway to create a Moorlands School of Peasant Advocacy and Climate Action in Sumapaz, which will build on traditional knowledge to strengthen agroecology, biodiversity monitoring, and restoration practices. Additionally, over 32 private landowners are participating in the development of a participatory ecological corridor near the Chingaza páramo.

The programme is advancing tools and strategies to strengthen climate-resilient agriculture and support informed decision-making. A community loss and damage assessment tool was developed and integrated in the National Damage and Losses Evaluation System for the Agricultural Sector (SEDyP), featured in the latest UNDRR’s report on “Disaster Losses and Damages Data,” highlighting its relevance in addressing climate impacts. Cost-benefit analyses were completed for seven key agricultural value chains, offering the Ministry of Agriculture and private sector partners insights into the economic benefits of climate action. An Excel-based tool was also developed to support ongoing monitoring and evaluation. In the Huila region, a digital system is being piloted to track progress in climate-adapted agriculture for coffee, potato, and horticulture, with plans to expand its reach. SCALA supported the use of FAO's Adaptation, Biodiversity and Carbon Mapping Tool (ABC-Map) by 20 sub-national government representatives in Huila to inform regional environmental planning.

The programme has developed national guidelines to help the agricultural private sector identify financial incentives and pathways for climate financing suited to the local financial landscape. The programme established linkages with the Global Compact's Roundtable for Food and Agriculture and was invited to its XIV Annual Congress to showcase SCALA community and ancestral practices implemented at local/territorial level. Additionally, exchanges were conducted with the National Federation of Potato Producers (FEDEPAPA) and SCALA native potato producers, including a visit to FEDEPAPA's laboratory to show the processes of conservation and propagation of potato seeds, as well as genetic improvement processes carried out by FEDEPAPA.

The certification of climate-adapted agriculture as an adaptation monitoring and recognition system has been piloted in the coffee, potato and horticulture sectors in the regions of Huila, Nariño and Cundinamarca, and is an ongoing collaboration for potential expansion. The insights gained from developing the certification framework will also contribute to the preparation of a future concept note.

Additionally, the programme also supported the mobilization of US$75,000 from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to develop a national roadmap to reduce open burning of priority crops to inform the country's NDC 3.0.

Thematic area