Peace in Colombia: A New Growth Strategy

Hylton, Forrest; Tauss, Aaron

doi:10.1080/10714839.2016.1228174

“…Like many Latin American countries, Colombia has several imbricate problems associated with small farmers’ agriculture and farmer’s markets, besides a long-term internal conflict. They included the economic opening in the 1990 decade and fluctuations in the national and international market (Hylton and Tauss 2016 ). Therefore, a combined research effort from a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspective that combines local and scientific knowledge could fill missing essential information over time and is also an opportunity to design investment strategies to conserve local biodiversity with a sustainable development perspective (Jara 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritizing Colombian plant genetic resources for investment in research using indicators about the geographic origin, vulnerability status, economic benefits, and food security importance

Cerón-Souza,

Delgadillo-Duran,

Polo-Murcia

et al. 2023

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Germplasm banks are the most significant repository for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) worldwide. Despite their strategic importance, national germplasm banks of tropical megadiverse developing countries such as Colombia have extremely limited funds. Therefore, making strategic decisions about research investment is essential. Here, we designed a data-driven approach to build an index that sorts Colombian PGRFA into three groups: high, medium, or low priority, based on four pillars of information from open-access databases and aligned with the sustainable goals of no poverty and zero hunger: Geographic origin, vulnerability status, economic benefits, and food security importance. We analyzed 345 PGRFA using the index, separating them into two groups, 275 already conserved in the Colombian germplasm bank (BGVCOL group) and 70 not currently conserved in the BGVCOL (NCB group). We used fuzzy logic to classify each PGRFA by each pillar and integrate it to obtain a priority index. Missing data for native crops were frequent in the BGVCOL group. Therefore we adopted an imputation strategy to fill the gaps and calculated the uncertainty. After applying the index, PGRFA with higher priority were 24 (8.72%) from the BGVCOL (i.e., 15 potatoes, three tomatoes, two tree tomatoes, pineapple, cocoa, papaya, and yacon) and one from NCB (i.e., coffee). We concluded that this methodology successfully prioritized PGRFA in Colombia and shows the big holes of knowledge for future research and alternatives to improve this index. The versatility of this methodology could be helpful in other genebanks with budget limitations for research investment.

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“…A second issue with the orientation of HE to the needs of the economy is that the economic model in Colombia is largely based on the exploitation of non-renewable raw materials which industrialised economies rely on for their continued prosperity (Aviles, 2006; Galindo et al, 2015). Indeed, oil accounts for around 45% of Colombia’s exports and over 30% of foreign direct investment (Aviles, 2006; Hylton and Tauss, 2016). This foreign investment facilitates the transfer of these extracted products to global markets, and is protected by various free trade agreements such as the one Colombia signed in 2011 with the US, its biggest export partner (CIA World Factbook, 2023; World Bank, 2013).…”

Section: Implications For Achieving Sustainable Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As in the rest of Latin America, the benefits of Colombia’s neoliberal economic model have not been shared by all, with increases in rural poverty in particular (Aviles, 2006; Henry and Beserra, 2022). In fact, those who stand to gain most from this model fall into two broad groups: a) the industrialised nations in North America and Western Europe, who have offset the costs of the importation of such raw materials by increasing the export to Colombia of products from their subsidy-dependent industries (Hylton and Tauss, 2016), and b) the political and economic elites in Colombia, who serve the interests of transnational corporations in the global North (Meger and Sachseder, 2020; Novelli, 2010). As a consequence, Colombia’s extractive economic model runs counter to many SDGs including sustainable economic growth (SDG8), reduced inequality within and among countries (SDG10), sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG12), and climate action (SDG13) (UN, 2015).…”

Section: Implications For Achieving Sustainable Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some implications of the neoliberal massification of Colombian HE for achieving the sustainable development goals

Mackenzie

¹

2023

Policy Futures in Education

2

0

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This article draws on existing research, including publicly available data, to identify changes in Colombian HE which have led to its progressive massification and neoliberalisation. These include the introduction of standardised testing; endogenous and exogenous privatisation (Ball and Youdell, 2007); the expansion of the country’s non-income contingent loan scheme; cost-cutting and cost-sharing; and the Government of Colombia’s prioritisation of technical and technological (T&T) education. The article then explores some implications of this neoliberal massification of Colombian HE for the achievement of the UN’s sustainable development goals in general and more specifically Sustainable Development Target 4.3, which is the only target to explicitly reference inclusion in HE. The analysis suggests that although some neoliberal policies may have broadened access to HE for some Colombians from low-income and rural backgrounds, they are not consistent with a sustainable development agenda. Reasons for this include the large number of student loans recipients who are in arrears; the use of public money to finance students’ courses in private higher education institutions (HEIs); the prioritisation of T&T education which leaves limited room in Colombian HE for the ‘full development of the human personality’ (OHCHR, 2022: article 13.1); and the country’s overreliance on non-renewable resources for its economic prosperity. The paper ends with some proposals for disrupting the ongoing neoliberalisation of higher learning in Colombia such as the replacement of the country’s non-contingent loan scheme with an income-contingent model; improving the efficiency and accountability of state-run T&T programmes; the granting of student loans only for courses at accredited HEIs; the provision of loans to accredited private HEIs only in cases where no public alternative exists; the abolition of tuition fees in public HEIs for the poorest students; the introduction of stipend-supported internships; and the promotion of Civic Education.

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“…Like many Latin American countries, Colombia has several imbricate problems associated with small farmers' agriculture and farmer's markets, besides a long-term internal conflict. They included the economic opening in the 1990 decade and fluctuations in the national and international market [66]. Therefore, a combined research effort from a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspective that combines local and scientific knowledge could fill missing essential information over time and is also an opportunity to design investment strategies to conserve local biodiversity with a sustainable development perspective [59].…”

Section: The Geographical Origin and Vulnerability Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritizing Colombian plant genetic resources for investment in research using indicators about the geographic origin, vulnerability status, economic benefits, and food security importance

Cerón-Souza,

Delgadillo-Duran,

Polo-Murcia

et al. 2022

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Germplasm banks are the most significant repository for plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) worldwide. Despite their strategic importance, national germplasm banks of tropical megadiverse developing countries such as Colombia have extremely limited funds. Therefore, making strategic decisions about research investment is essential. Here, we designed a data-driven approach to build an index that sorts Colombian PGRFA into three groups: high, medium, or low priority, based on four pillars of information from open-access databases and aligned with the sustainable goals of no poverty and zero hunger: Geographic origin, vulnerability status, economic benefits, and food security importance. We analyzed 345 PGRFA using the index, separating them into two groups, 275 already conserved in the Colombian germplasm bank (BGVCOL group) and 70 not currently conserved in the BGVCOL (NCB group). We used fuzzy logic to classify each PGRFA by each pillar and integrate it to obtain a priority index. Missing data for native crops were frequent in the BGVCOL group. Therefore we adopted an imputation strategy to fill the gaps and calculated the uncertainty. After applying the index, PGRFA with higher priority were 24 (8.72%) from the BGVCOL (i.e., 15 potatoes, three tomatoes, two tree tomatoes, pineapple, cocoa, papaya, and yacon) and one from NCB (i.e., coffee). We concluded that this methodology successfully prioritized PGRFA in Colombia and shows the big holes of knowledge for future research and alternatives to improve this index. The versatility of this methodology could be helpful in other genebanks with budget limitations for research investment.

show abstract

Peace in Colombia: A New Growth Strategy

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Prioritizing Colombian plant genetic resources for investment in research using indicators about the geographic origin, vulnerability status, economic benefits, and food security importance

Prioritizing Colombian plant genetic resources for investment in research using indicators about the geographic origin, vulnerability status, economic benefits, and food security importance

Some implications of the neoliberal massification of Colombian HE for achieving the sustainable development goals

Prioritizing Colombian plant genetic resources for investment in research using indicators about the geographic origin, vulnerability status, economic benefits, and food security importance

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