Peru's Municipalities join CAF BiodiverCities

The city of Cusco hosted 18 Peruvian mayors and specialists who shared experiences and challenges on the importance of ecosystem services to ensure food production and supply in cities and communities, during the National Biodivercities Meeting in Peru, organized by CAF—development bank of Latin America and the Caribbean—and the Cusco Municipality.

This meeting is part of a CAF-led initiative to back the creation and consolidation of a BiodiverCities network, which is set to publicize and foster the adoption of the concept among cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The initiative has already brought together over 179 local authorities from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic, with the purpose of fostering a model that effectively incorporates biodiversity into urban planning and management as a cornerstone of an inclusive, productive, and sustainable urban policy.

In the keynote speech, Northern Regional Manager and CAF representative in Peru Santiago Rojas Arroyo noted: "We have been a partner in Peru's sustainable development for 53 years, and that is why we are always looking for new ways to improve the quality of life of the population and boost their competitiveness comprehensively." The BiodiverCities network is a step in this direction, opening spaces to become more connected and learn from each other with a common purpose, namely well-being and sustainability. In today's meeting, we focus on production and consumption systems of nature-friendly food, a strategic topic on which CAF is fully supporting governments technically and financially.

This was followed by the presentation of CAF's Economy and Development Report: "Global Challenges, Regional Solutions: Latin America and the Caribbean facing the climate and biodiversity crisis," by CAF chief economist Pablo Brassiolo, and the conference "BiodiverCities: A way to heal the urban-rural link," by

Mario Murcia, research leader on nature and well-being contributions at Colombia's Humboldt Institute.

Ecosystem services offer a set of crucial benefits that boost agricultural production. Sustainable management of ecosystems and consideration of these services are critical to guarantee food security and long-term sustainability of agriculture. This was one of the core topics of the roundtable discussion titled: "Appreciating the value of biodiversity in Peru's food production and supply chain," featuring FAO urban markets specialist Ana Maria Huaita Alfaro,

family agriculture and market access specialist Verónica Gavidia, and sustainable food systems specialist and Shiwi_Perú founder Sofía Rubio, moderated by CAF Habitat and Sustainable Mobility director Emil Rodríguez.

Experts agreed that local governments can help in various ways to boost sustainable management of ecosystems, ensuring a robust and sustainable food supply chain, especially by managing the tensions between urbanization and rural land, facilitating access to food in municipal markets, leveraging culanary trends in economic and cultural terms, and promoting circular economy approaches for waste management.

At the closing of the event, 15 mayors from 11 departments of Peru signed the Barranquilla Declaration and pledged to advance sustainable local development, in harmony with nature and focusing on green infrastructure, water resource management, and urban ecosystem preservation.