21 November 2011: Delegates from the four Andean Community (CAN) countries approved a work plan for a key element of the Community’s biodiversity program, BioCAN. Approved at the second session of the technical committee for the Amazon Regional Information Platform (PIRAA), the work plan for the Platform and its national nodes calls for actions and mechanisms to improve the exchange of information on biodiversity and the environment in the Amazonian regions of the four countries.

PIRAA is intended, inter alia, to offer information on: organizations and specialists that undertake activities knowledge building, conservation and sustainable use activities involving biodiversity in the Amazonian regions of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru; territorial planning and zoning in those regions; species under analysis for possible regional agreements and research and management strategies; transborder issues; and inputs for the generation of a diagnosis of the Amazonian territories.

In addition to information exchange, the approved work plan also calls for strengthening of the technological and human resource bases of PIRAA, and the deployment of a series of standards-based technological tools.

Meeting at CAN Secretariat headquarters in Lima, Peru, 16-17 November 2011, the technical committee meeting also discussed the related experiences of, and explored possible alliances with, Colombia’s Biodiversity Information System, the GeoSur Program of the Latin American Development Bank (CAF), and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO).

BioCAN, created in 2007 with funding from Finland, and in its second phase since June 2010, has the mission of contributing to the quality of life of CAN member countries in their Tropical Andes-Amazonian Regions “through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in an equitable manner respectful of cultural diversity.” [CAN Press Release (Spanish)]