📋 Tender Overview
Due to its biological mega-diversity Peru has been chosen among one of the five countries that will be part of the project Mapping nature for people and the planet which will use geospatial data to identify Essential Areas of Life Support ELSA for its acronym in English which are those areas where it seeks to conserve the biological diversity of a critical area that has essential ecosystem services such as food carbon storage and water filtration among others.The aforementioned project is promoted by the United Nations Development Program UNDP and will also be developed in Uganda Kazakhstan Costa Rica and Colombia. In the case of Peru geospatial data will be collected in the Ucayali region and for this it has the support of the Ministry of the Environment MINAM the Ucayali Regional Government and representatives of civil society.During the first session of the virtual national workshop Mapping nature for people and the planet the Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources of MINAM Gabriel Quijandra stressed that this initiative will provide a tool that is part of the demands that the ministries of the Environment have in developing countries.Along these lines he indicated that in countries where resources are scarce there must be evidence that can map and prioritize those ecosystems where interventions generate greater environmental benefits and well-being for the population.Take advantage of technological advancesDuring said virtual session the UNDP resident representative in Peru Mara del Carmen Sacasa highlighted the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs in areas such as food security and territorial governance even more so in a pandemic scenario. Therefore in a context of climate change it is essential to find solutions for the recovery of green areas with the use of technologies she said.For his part Jamison Ervin from the UNDP Global Program on Nature for Development recalled that despite the fact that half of the worlds Gross Domestic Product GDP depends on nature today we are witnessing drastic changes in the natural world such as the emergence of contagious diseases that will define our future.In this sense Ervin explained that the project to identify ELSAs must be based on state-of-the-art science to locate existing threats and land use modalities. Thus on the basis of the information obtained solutions capable of contributing to the achievement of national goals related to the climate and sustainable development of the country may be adopted.In his turn the general director of Biological Diversity of MINAM Jos lvarez pointed out that one cannot speak of natural wealth of ecosystems without the cultural contribution of the populations that live in them. In Peru there are 2.2 million rural families that depend on biodiversity. This must be demonstrated with real figures and data that can convince decision makers to preserve our ecosystems he said.Over the next few months a series of virtual meetings will be held with representatives of the Government and civil society in order to identify ELSA opportunities in Peru with an emphasis on indigenous populations and taking into account the post-COVID-19 scenario.
