GYBN | GYBN LAC | LAC Youth Biodiversity Network

Our Work In
Latin America and the Caribbean

Scroll below to explore our regional and national chapters in LAC

GYBN Workshop in Colombia

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GYBN Workshop in Colombia

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The Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region hosts many of the most biologically diverse countries in the world. Its unique ecosystems range from the coral reefs in the Caribbean to the frozen regions of the Patagonia, the Amazonian rainforest to the Andean mountains, and more.

Biodiversity in this region faces a lot of threats and anthropogenic pressures. Illegal deforestation is increasing, mining activities continuously pollute air and freshwater sources at alarming rates, and oil extraction plans are targeting protected areas and indigenous territories.

In this complex scenario, it is crucial to involve youth organizations and committed young individuals in the design and implementation of biodiversity protection policies at the national levels, especially because most of the governments in the LAC region lack the technical capacities and financial resources to fulfill their environmental-related commitments like the Aichi targets.

To help reach this goal, the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) dedicated a Regional Workshop to the LAC region, to work on the capacity-building of young leaders in biodiversity and the development of partnerships between like-minded youth organizations that are already working on biodiversity issues. The workshop took place at the Humboldt Institute in Bogotá, Colombia, and brought together 30 youth leaders from all over the LAC region.

A core outcome from the GYBN LAC workshop is the organization of new GYBN national chapters. GYBN Mexico, which started in 2016 at the CBD COP-13, worked on the analysis of proposing the Mexico Biodiversity Law, involving 105 young people from 14 provinces to present a common position paper to Mexican legislators. Inspired by this, youth leaders from Centro Urbes decided to establish GYBN Perú in order to enhance youth efforts to tackle biodiversity challenges at national and local levels. There was similar interest from Paraguay, where the team from Organizacion Paraguaya de Conservacion y Desarrollo Sostenible has been working on getting into contact with the Paraguayan government’s CBD Focal Point and the technical group in charge of the Paraguay NBSAP. Also, the representatives from Engajamundo in Brazil decided to advance their biodiversity work by translating the GYBN Guidebook to the CBD processes, CBD in a Nutshell, into Portuguese and expanding their network in Brazil.

This is one of the first steps towards the development of a regional youth network for biodiversity protection in the LAC region. More needs to be done, but the results of these days of discussion and the commitments of the workshop participants is an indicator that gives us young people in GYBN optimism to keep working on youth engagement within the region.

Diálogo intergeneracional en América Latina y el Caribe por la Biodiversidad

Jóvenes América Latina y el Caribe nos reunimos con representantes de gobiernos nacionales y organizaciones internacionales para conversar sobre sus propuestas para el futuro de la biodiversidad ¡y fue todo un éxito!

En este evento innovador y multilingüe, contamos con la activa presencia de la Secretaría del Convenio de Diversidad Biológica; con representantes de los gobiernos de México, Perú, República Dominicana, Paraguay, Belice; así como de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN), el Fondo Mundial para la Naturaleza (WWF), la Comunidad del Caribe (CARICOM) e ICLEI – Gobiernos Locales por la Sostenibilidad.

Durante el evento, representantes de los Capítulos Nacionales de GYBN en ALC presentaron 12 prioridades que sintetizan las demandas que las juventudes de América Latina y el Caribe queremos ver incluidas efectivamente en el Marco Mundial de Biodiversidad Posterior al 2020:

Gobernanza ambiental democrática
Movilización de recursos de diversas fuentes
Reparto justo y equitativo de los beneficios
Equidad Intergeneracional
Derechos de la naturaleza y humanos
Conocimiento tradicional
Educación transformadora
Investigación científica, técnica y tecnológica
Conservación y restauración de ecosistemas y especies
Uso sostenible de la biodiversidad
Cambio climático
Condiciones habilitadoras

Estas prioridades son resultado de las consultas nacionales organizadas por jóvenes de ALC bajo los principios de inclusión, transparencia y “participación plena y efectiva de todas las personas que deseen comprometerse con el proceso [Post2020]”, según lo establecido en la Decisión 14/34 de la COP.

Para conocer los detalles de estas prioridades te invitamos a revisar el Documento de Política de GYBN LAC, en cualquiera de sus cuatro versiones: español, inglés, francés y portugués. (https://linktr.ee/GYBNLAC )

¡Gracias a todas las personas que participaron! ¡Así, de manera colectiva e intergeneracional fortalecemos la posición de la región en este proceso global donde se está definiendo nuestro futuro!

¡Gracias al Fondo Japonés para la Biodiversidad y a la Unión Europea por su apoyo para que este evento sucediera!

GYBN LAC

GYBN LAC está conformado por nueve capítulos nacionales y más de 200 integrantes individuales. Los capítulos nacionales incluyen GYBN México, GYBN Haiti, GYBN República Dominicana, GYBN Colombia, GYBN Venezuela, GYBN Brasil, GYBN Bolivia, GYBN Perú y GYBN Paraguay.

¿Quieres saber más? Escribe a Amelia Arreguin, coordinadora de GYBN LAC, a gybnlac@gmail.com

¡Síguenos en FB @GYBN LAC (https://www.facebook.com/GYBNLACc)

Intergenerational Dialogue in Latin America and the Caribbean for Biodiversity

Latin America and the Caribbean youths met with representatives of national governments and international organizations to discuss their proposals for the future of biodiversity, and it was a complete success!

In this innovative and multilingual event, we have the active presence of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity; representatives of the governments of Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Belize; as well as representatives from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability.

During the event, representatives of the GYBN National Chapters in LAC presented 12 priorities that synthesize the demands that the youth of Latin America and the Caribbean want to see effectively included in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework:

• Democratic environmental governance

• Mobilization of resources from various sources

• Fair and equitable distribution of benefits

• Intergenerational Equity

• Nature and human rights

• Traditional knowledge

• Transformative education

• Scientific, technical and technological research

• Conservation and restoration of ecosystems and species

• Sustainable use of biodiversity

• Climate change

• Enabling conditions

These priorities are the result of national consultations organized by LAC youth under the principles of inclusion, transparency and "full and effective participation of all people who wish to commit to the [Post2020] process", as established in Decision 14/34 of the COP.

To find out the details of these priorities, we invite you to review the GYBN LAC Policy Document, in any of its four versions: Spanish, English, French and Portuguese. (https://linktr.ee/GYBNLAC )

Thank you to all the people who participated! Thus, collectively with an intergenerational perspective we strengthen the position of the region in this global process where our future is being defined!

Thanks to the Japan Biodiversity Fund and the European Union for their support to make this event happen!

GYBN LAC

GYBN LAC is made up of nine national chapters and more than 200 individual members. National chapters include GYBN Mexico, GYBN Haiti, GYBN Dominican Republic, GYBN Colombia, GYBN Venezuela, GYBN Brazil, GYBN Bolivia, GYBN Peru, and GYBN Paraguay.

Do you want to know more? Write to Amelia Arreguin, coordinator of GYBN LAC, at gybnlac@gmail.com