15 June 2012: The Andean Community’s biodiversity program, BioCAN, provided training for the environmental authorities of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as well as the staff of national teams responsible for building the Community’s Amazon Regional Information Platform (PIRAA). Participants exchanged experiences and agreed on protocols and tools for managing information on biodiversity and environment in the Amazonian regions of the Andean Community (CAN).

The training workshop, held from 12-15 June 2012, in Bogotá, Colombia, was organized by the CAN General Secretariat, with support from the Government of Finland and the Latin American Development Bank (CAF).

Experts participating in the training included representatives of Costa Rica’s National Biodiversity Institute (InBio), the National Geographic Institute of Spain, and the University Jorge Tadeo Lozano of Colombia. Also participating were PIRAA partner institutions, such as the Amazon Institute of Scientific Research (SINCHII), the Research Institute of the Peruvian Amazon, the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, the Regional Development Institute at the University of San Andres in Bolivia, and the Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN).

PIRAA is intended, inter alia, to offer information on: organizations and specialists that undertake activities in 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 a diagnosis of the Amazonian territories. [CAN Press Release (Spanish)]