Colombia stands to benefit ecologically, economically and socially through membership in the Earth Biogenome Project.

In 2019, Colombia joined the Earth Biogenome Project (EBP), which aims to sequence the genomes of all eukaryotic (plant, animal and fungi) life on Earth. The collaboration between governments, academia and the private sector will integrate research with sustainable, environment-focused strategies to develop Colombia’s post-conflict bioeconomy, while conserving its rich biological and cultural diversity.

A combination of factors has preserved Colombia’s biodiversity, with much of it still inaccessible, understudied and intact. Since the 2016 Peace Agreement, however, the country has begun opening up to economic activities such as timber, mining and agriculture — in particular, cattle farming. These activities threaten Colombia’s unique ecosystems and could accelerate biodiversity loss.

An international team of researchers say joining the EBP and launching a National Bioeconomy Strategy (NBS) will have a range of positive outcomes for Colombia, from preserving the country’s vast biological wealth, working to alleviate inequality and poverty — and even discovering species new to science that could benefit human health.

Dr Joseph Huddart, a Senior Research Associate in UEA’s School of Biological Sciences, was lead author on the study, ‘EBP-Colombia and the bioeconomy: Genomics in the service of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development’. The paper is published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr Huddart said: «We are at the beginning of an exciting new era of molecular research, where technological advances mean we can potentially sequence species DNA in the field cost-effectively and in real-time.

Story Source:
Materials provided by University of East Anglia. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.