DISCUSSION BRIEF

The Orinoco River Basin in Colombia is renowned for its rich, ecologically diverse landscapes of wetlands, grasslands and for-ests, and is also home to 46 protected indigenous groups. Yet it is also fragile, and today it faces major challenges amid a surge in new development driven by both public and private invest-ment, including new infrastructure, oil extraction and industrial-scale agriculture. How this transformation is managed will de-

termine whether the region becomes a model for sound development or a lesson in ecological collapse. As Se-mana magazine put it in on the cover of a March 2013 special issue, “The Orino-quia and Amazonia are in a crucial position to drive the country’s development. The decisions made will be vital to achieving this.”

This discussion brief presents initial analysis conducted by SEI and the Colombian government’s Alexander von Hum-boldt Institute for Research on Biological Resources (IavH) to explore how a “nexus” approach to water, energy and food could illuminate key sustainability issues in the Orinoco Ba-sin. The two partners are now seeking funding for an in-depth research project to integrate currently fragmented water, en-ergy, and land use planning and decision-making in the region and reduce negative cross-sectoral and ecological impacts.

The nexus approach starts from the premise that water, food and energy security are intimately interrelated, facing com-mon threats and pressures from climate change, globalization, urbanization and environmental degradation. The issues are analysed together to support more efficient use of resources, reduce or re-use waste, direct investment towards sustainabil-ity and improve coherence in policy and institutions.

SEI has been actively involved in developing the nexus frame-work, presenting it to decision-makers, and applying in research and policy contexts around the world; key publications are listed at the end of this document. In Colombia, SEI and IavH have adapted the nexus framework for the Orinoco project to also consider habitats and ecosystem services. The goal is to examine how a nexus approach could lead to more sustainable development that protects both human and natural systems and helps preserve biodiversity. The research has the potential to in-form important planning processes now under way, including an Orinoco Basin environmental management plan, Colombia’s National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, and a Na-tional Climate Adaptation Plan.

A rapid transformation in OrinoquiaThe Orinoco River Basin stretches from the Andes in eastern Colombia, across Venezuela, to the Atlantic Ocean. A third of the basin, roughly 350,000 km2, is in Colombia, spanning four departments (provinces). Until recently, development

and population growth had been limited by a lack of infra-structure, difficult climatic and agricultural conditions, and the presence of irregular armed groups and illicit crops. This protected the region’s diverse ecosystems, although fishing, hunting and cattle ranching have caused slow but continued environmental deterioration.

In the last decade, however, the environmental impact of eco-nomic activities has accelerated, after the government desig-nated the region as a strategic area for development. Financial incentives to farmers doubled palm oil production between 2001 and 2007 in the Meta and Casanare departments, and high prices for rice led to significant growth in rice planta-tions. Meanwhile, petroleum production in the same regions grew by 19.7% and 15.1% in 2011, respectively, and helped sustain high GDP growth for Orinoquia even when the rest of Colombia suffered an economic downturn. The Orinoco Basin now contributes 75% of the country’s petroleum production.

As a result of these cumulative pressures, Orinoquia has lost 32% (1503 km2) of its flooded savannahs, 12% (412 km2) of forest, and 9% (616 km2) of high savannahs in the last 20 years. This is equivalent to an annual loss rate of 127 km2 per year. There is an urgent need for greater knowledge of the re-lationships between fragile ecosystems and human interven-tions, and for an effective decision-making framework to ex-amine the impact of development on water, energy, food and habitat security.

Water security – a nexus case studyThe Orinoco watershed is considered one of the most important in the world, due to the volume of water that passes through it into the Atlantic Ocean. It contains a third of Colombia’s water supplies and an incredible 650 fish species, and its hydrologi-cal cycles are pivotal to the entire region’s ecosystems.

Sustainable Development in Fragile Ecosystems: Applying the ‘Nexus’ Approach to the Orinoco River Basin in Colombia

The Orinoco River Basin in eastern Colombia

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Water security is also intimately connected to the other parts of the nexus: food, energy and habitat security. The water-shed supplies water to 1.7 million people, provides liveli-hoods for fishermen and underpins agricultural production of maize, soybeans, rice, palm oil, and other products that feed Colombians, contribute to the energy matrix and generate in-come for the country.

While water resources in Orinoquia are abundant, they are still vulnerable to overuse, poor management and contamination. Misuse can cause social conflicts and can undermine the secu-rity of entire ecosystems; desertification is already a growing problem, and climate change is expected to exacerbate water stress in the region. This does not mean that the impacts are always simple or uniformly negative. New dams, for example, may directly affect habitats, but also increase the water supply in other areas.

SEI and IavH aim to build understanding and knowledge of the complex interrelations between water security and other aspects of the nexus in the Orinoco Basin. This will help policy-makers identify the best strategies and policies to re-duce risks to the hydrological cycle and maximize its role in supporting food, energy and water security for the population and for ecosystems.

A strategic research partnership

SEI is an independent international research institute that has worked to bridge science and policy on environment and devel-opment issues for more than 20 years. IavH was established in 1993 by the Colombian government and is the national institu-tion responsible for carrying out scientific research on biodiver-sity in Colombia. In April 2013, SEI and IavH signed a long-term agreement to pursue research together, combining SEI’s scien-tific expertise on analytical tools with IavH’s deep understand-ing of the biophysical and socioeconomic context in Orinoquia.

SEI has developed sophisticated software tools that are used by thousands of researchers, planners and policy analysts in Latin America and around the world: LEAP, the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning system, and WEAP, the Water Evaluation And Planning system. SEI has integrated the two to better support nexus analyses, and it has also developed new analytical tools and methodologies that have been effec-tively applied to water resources management in California and the Andes region of South America.

SEI and IavH’s planned approach in Orinoquia combines par-ticipatory approaches and scientific and technical analysis to help build local capacity and enable more effective decision-making. It includes stakeholder consultations using robust decision-making methods to formulate the problem, set priori-ties and identify possible solutions; development of illustra-tive scenarios to reflect the range of uncertainties; modelling with LEAP and WEAP to test the performance of different op-tions; and the use of structured decision-making tools to ana-lyse the model results in a group setting. The process is meant to be iterative, so each round of analysis can be followed up by workshops to refine the models and proposed strategies.

This North-South strategic partner-ship will embed scientific and technical analysis into decision-making processes at local, regional and national levels in Colombia, which could greatly improve governance and natural resource man-agement. The work done here will also be widely shared, for potential replica-tion in other parts of Latin America and around the world.

Further reading:Escobar, M. (2012). The nexus of water-energy-food. In Sustainabil-

ity Report 2011. Inter-American Development Bank, New York. 7–9. http://www.sei-international.org/publications?pid=2100.

Granit, J., et al. (2013). Unpacking the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Tools for Assessment and Cooperation Along a Continuum. In Cooperation for a Water Wise World – Partnerships for Sustain-able Development. A. Jägerskog, T. J. Clausen, K. Lexén, and T. Holmgren (eds.). Stockholm International Water Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. 45–50. http://www.sei-international.org/publications?pid=2353.

Hoff, H. (2011). Understanding the Nexus. Background Paper for the Bonn2011 Conference: The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus. Stockholm Environment Institute. http://www.water-ener-gy-food.org/documents/understanding_the_nexus.pdf.

Hoff, H., et al. (2013). A ‘nexus’ approach to soil and land manage-ment. Rural 21, (47) 3/2013, 10–12. http://www.rural21.com/english/current-issue/detail/article/a-nexus-approach-to-soil-and-land-management-0000833/.

Purkey, D. R., et al. (2012). Integrating the WEAP and LEAP Sys-tems to Support Planning and Analysis at the Water-energy Nexus. Stockholm Environment Institute. http://www.sei-international.org/publications?pid=2145.

Published by:Stockholm Environment InstituteU.S. Centre – Davis Office 400 F Street, Davis, CA 95616, USATel: +1 530 753 3035

Author contact:Marisa Escobar

marisa.escobar@sei-international.orgJuana Mariño de Posada

jmarino@humboldt.org.co

sei-international.org2013

Twitter: @SEIresearch, @SEIclimate

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