Home / Recent news / Colombia’s whole-of-government workshop advances intersectoral biodiversity action
Colombia’s whole-of-government workshop advances intersectoral biodiversity action
Home / Recent news / Colombia’s whole-of-government workshop advances intersectoral biodiversity action
Colombia’s whole-of-government workshop advances intersectoral biodiversity action
- Colombia held a whole-of-government workshop on 20 April 2026 to accelerate implementation of its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, bringing together representatives from five ministries.
- The workshop focused on identifying sector priorities and developing draft project ideas aligned with Colombia’s six national targets and the 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
- The NBSAP Accelerator Partnership, through its in-country facilitator María Paula Barrera, supported the workshop design and facilitation as part of a broader two-workshop workplan for multi-sector engagement.
On 20 April 2026, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (Minambiente) hosted a whole-of-government workshop to mobilize key government sectors around the implementation of Colombia’s National Biodiversity Plan (Plan de Acción de Biodiversidad, PAB).
Why intersectoral coordination matters
Colombia’s NBSAP 2030 is an ambitious, wide-ranging plan. It translates the 23 global targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework into six national targets:
- Participatory planning
- Territories with ecosystem integrity and regenerative models
- Strengthening the biodiversity economy
- Pollution, attention to informality, and environmental crimes
- Governance across all sectors and society as a whole
- Sustainable financial models
These six targets encompass 191 actions, of which 30 are considered strategic, 42 complementary, 71 enabling conditions, and 51 means of implementation. Given this scope, implementation requires coordinated action well beyond the environment ministry alone. As the plan itself notes, intersectoral coordination is fundamental to addressing the drivers of biodiversity loss, integrating sectors responsible for land-use change and the exploitation of natural resources within a sustainable development framework.
Who was in the room
The workshop brought together representatives from five ministries prioritized for biodiversity action in Colombia:
- Agriculture
- Transport
- Mines and Energy
- Trade, Industry and Tourism
- Minambiente’s own technical directorates, the institutes of the National Environmental System (SINA), and the Biodiversity Information System (SiB)
What participants worked on
The session unfolded in two working blocks. In the first, participants organized by sector worked through a prioritization exercise to identify the most relevant actions for accelerating NBSAP implementation from their respective mandates. In the second, each group used a structured template to begin drafting a project idea, and defined a work agenda to continue developing the proposal after the workshop.
The expected output from each sector is a draft project idea including at minimum: a title, objective, associated strategic action, linked national target, and three main activities. These proposals are intended to help mobilize technical and financial resources, including potential submissions to the NBSAP AP’s MatchMaking Mechanism or other funding sources.
Looking ahead
This workshop is the first of two planned under Colombia’s workplan with the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership. A second session, targeting actors from the National Environmental System, is scheduled for June 2026. As one of the NBSAP AP’s co-chairs, Colombia is putting the whole-of-government approach into practice, working toward a project portfolio that reflects the breadth of the PAB and the country’s commitment to meeting its national and global biodiversity targets.
- Colombia held a whole-of-government workshop on 20 April 2026 to accelerate implementation of its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, bringing together representatives from five ministries.
- The workshop focused on identifying sector priorities and developing draft project ideas aligned with Colombia’s six national targets and the 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
- The NBSAP Accelerator Partnership, through its in-country facilitator María Paula Barrera, supported the workshop design and facilitation as part of a broader two-workshop workplan for multi-sector engagement.
On 20 April 2026, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (Minambiente) hosted a whole-of-government workshop to mobilize key government sectors around the implementation of Colombia’s National Biodiversity Plan (Plan de Acción de Biodiversidad, PAB).
Why intersectoral coordination matters
Colombia’s NBSAP 2030 is an ambitious, wide-ranging plan. It translates the 23 global targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework into six national targets:
- Participatory planning
- Territories with ecosystem integrity and regenerative models
- Strengthening the biodiversity economy
- Pollution, attention to informality, and environmental crimes
- Governance across all sectors and society as a whole
- Sustainable financial models
These six targets encompass 191 actions, of which 30 are considered strategic, 42 complementary, 71 enabling conditions, and 51 means of implementation. Given this scope, implementation requires coordinated action well beyond the environment ministry alone. As the plan itself notes, intersectoral coordination is fundamental to addressing the drivers of biodiversity loss, integrating sectors responsible for land-use change and the exploitation of natural resources within a sustainable development framework.
Who was in the room
The workshop brought together representatives from five ministries prioritized for biodiversity action in Colombia:
- Agriculture
- Transport
- Mines and Energy
- Trade, Industry and Tourism
- Minambiente’s own technical directorates, the institutes of the National Environmental System (SINA), and the Biodiversity Information System (SiB)
What participants worked on
The session unfolded in two working blocks. In the first, participants organized by sector worked through a prioritization exercise to identify the most relevant actions for accelerating NBSAP implementation from their respective mandates. In the second, each group used a structured template to begin drafting a project idea, and defined a work agenda to continue developing the proposal after the workshop.
The expected output from each sector is a draft project idea including at minimum: a title, objective, associated strategic action, linked national target, and three main activities. These proposals are intended to help mobilize technical and financial resources, including potential submissions to the NBSAP AP’s MatchMaking Mechanism or other funding sources.
Looking ahead
This workshop is the first of two planned under Colombia’s workplan with the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership. A second session, targeting actors from the National Environmental System, is scheduled for June 2026. As one of the NBSAP AP’s co-chairs, Colombia is putting the whole-of-government approach into practice, working toward a project portfolio that reflects the breadth of the PAB and the country’s commitment to meeting its national and global biodiversity targets.
The NBSAP Accelerator Partnership is a country-led initiative that supports the implementation of NBSAPs to collectively achieve the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It is co-chaired by Colombia and Germany, supported by the governments of Germany, Norway, Canada and France, and coordinated by a Global Coordination Unit hosted by the Secretariat of the CBD, UNDP and UNEP.
The NBSAP Accelerator Partnership is a country-led initiative that supports the implementation of NBSAPs to collectively achieve the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It is co-chaired by Colombia and Germany, supported by the governments of Germany, Norway, Canada and France, and coordinated by a Global Coordination Unit hosted by the Secretariat of the CBD, UNDP and UNEP.
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