Biocultural Minga: Chile and Colombia forge a new path for south-south cooperation on biodiversity
How can science and communities work together to tackle the biodiversity crisis? Chile and Colombia are forging a new model of south-south cooperation to drive socioecological solutions with global impact.
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Participants from the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB) and the Humboldt Institute during the Biocultural Minga at the Senda Darwin Biological Station in Chiloé, Chile.
view moreCredit: Xuksa Kramcsak / Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB)
These were the questions that brought together Chile’s Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB) and Colombia’s Humboldt Institute, two of Latin America’s leading scientific institutions dedicated to biodiversity and sustainability research. At a time when the international community is seeking new responses to the climate and ecological crises, the two institutions are advancing an alliance that positions South-South cooperation as a strategic platform for co-producing knowledge, strengthening capacities, and developing innovative, place-based solutions.
Building on their experience working with communities, indigenous peoples, local governments, and civil society organizations, this collaboration seeks to build a Latin American model of socioecological research that integrates science, local knowledge, and collective action to address the environmental challenges of the 21st century.
During the last week of July, 17 participants—including members of the IEB associated with its Long-Term Socioecological Research Integration Program, representatives of Colombia’s Humboldt Institute, particularly its Center for Social Appropriation and Center for Socioecological Studies and Global Change, as well as local territorial stakeholders—took part in a series of working sessions at the Senda Darwin Biological Station in Chiloé, southern Chile.
The meeting aimed to advance the design of a collaborative model for socioecological research between Chile and Colombia, strengthening regional scientific cooperation and facilitating its implementation across different Latin American territories through knowledge co-production, the exchange of experiences, and joint work with local stakeholders.
Over three days, researchers, communities, and territorial stakeholders engaged in dialogue and reflection using an exchange matrix designed to guide discussions between the two institutes. The matrix posed strategic questions about the knowledge and methodologies to be shared, forms of collaboration, expected outcomes, and mutual learning.
The process placed particular emphasis on socioecological restoration, inter- and transdisciplinary research, the integration of local and Indigenous knowledge, territorial governance, knowledge co-production, biocultural heritage, and the development of a south-south cooperation agenda aimed at generating shared solutions to the socioenvironmental challenges currently facing Chile and Colombia.
Through presentations, discussion sessions, a visit to the territorial experience of the Catruman community and its sustainable watershed management model, and participatory workshops, participants identified shared principles, methodological approaches, and challenges for strengthening collaborative socioecological research. This work helped move the partnership from an exchange of experiences toward defining guidelines and agreements for launching pilot joint-research initiatives and consolidating a collaborative model between the two countries.
The meeting was held within the framework of the Collaboration Agreement signed by the IEB and the Humboldt Institute in October 2025, whose purpose is to strengthen biodiversity research, conservation, and knowledge management in Latin America.
Commitments Moving Forward
As a result of the meeting, the participating institutions and territorial organizations agreed to consolidate an alliance based on the principles of biocultural diversity, reciprocity with nature, and recognition of territories as living spaces for learning and collaboration.
Within this framework, they committed to strengthening and systematizing experiences of joint work among science, communities, and local governments; creating the Biocultural Minga community of practice to promote the exchange of methodologies, capacity building, and the development of collaborative projects; developing a pathway for policy impact to help incorporate these experiences into planning instruments and public policies; promoting, over the longer term, a Latin American exchange school focused on biocultural diversity and socioecological restoration; and developing a Chiloé Manifesto as an expression of their ethical and strategic commitment to collaborative research and to strengthening relationships between people and nature.
IEB Positions Social Innovation as a Key Pillar of Knowledge Transfer
The working sessions were organized by the IEB’s integrative program, Long-Term Socioecological Research. In this context, IEB manager Fernando Valenzuela highlighted the value of bringing together researchers, professionals from the Humboldt Institute, and representatives of the territories where the IEB works to strengthen a shared vision of socioecological research.
“All the perspectives brought together here have helped us understand the importance of consolidating the work that has been carried out at the biological stations through the Long-Term Socioecological Research Integration Program. Both stations host highly relevant research activities and processes, with more than 20 and even 30 years of history, generating information and data on different ecosystems and their dynamics. However, we need to make much greater progress in incorporating the social dimension and in understanding how people who interact with these territories can, on the one hand, take ownership of scientific knowledge and, at the same time, convey and share local and traditional knowledge with the scientists carrying out this monitoring,” he said.
Paula Gatica, coordinator of the Long-Term Socioecological Research Integrative Program and organizer of the event, said the meeting demonstrated the value of collaboration among institutions.
“Sharing experiences, lessons learned, and challenges allows us to adapt and strengthen good practices, enhancing the socioecological approach of long-term research. In turn, this knowledge can be transferred and implemented across the different sites that make up the Chilean Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research Network (LTSER-Chile), strengthening the network and promoting research that is increasingly connected to the needs of local territories.”
Gatica added that one of the main lessons drawn from their Colombian colleagues is their experience in the social appropriation of knowledge and the development of participatory processes with territorial stakeholders.
“The mapping exercises carried out in Fray Jorge and Senda Darwin allowed us to identify these key stakeholders and understand their interests and needs. The Colombian experience can help us move from that diagnosis toward concrete actions and more lasting collaborations, strengthening territorial governance and integrating scientific knowledge with local knowledge.”
Building on this point, Valenzuela said one of the IEB’s goals is to consolidate socioecological efforts and approaches while incorporating these criteria into the way science itself is conducted from a socioecological perspective.
“This will allow us to improve the impact that science can have, not only on public policy, but also on productive sectors and in the territories where decisions are made.”
Along the same lines, Marcela Verdugo, director of the IEB’s Development and Technology and Knowledge Transfer Unit (UDTT), emphasized that the meeting encourages progress toward more collaborative models in which science does not simply reach territories but enters into dialogue with the knowledge, experiences, and capacities of the people who live there.
“Knowledge co-production creates opportunities to foster social innovation processes, generate solutions that are relevant to each context, and strengthen capacities that remain within the territories. The challenge now is to sustain these alliances and ensure that the lessons built together translate into concrete actions and impacts,” she said.
Reflecting Together to Expand Socioecological Impact
From the Humboldt Institute, Marcela Lozano, manager of the Center for Social Appropriation, highlighted the collaborative process and collective reflection.
“For us, it has been very inspiring to exchange the experiences we have had as institutes, because we often have too few opportunities to reflect on these dynamics, which allow us to strengthen our processes—especially those seeking to connect social processes with the scientific and biological research carried out by our institutions.”
Regarding the challenges of inter- and transdisciplinary research, which involves the active participation of communities and dialogue among different knowledge systems, she said it is important to “recognize other ways of seeing the world and understanding biodiversity, and to understand that local knowledge also enriches the scientific knowledge produced in the territories.”
Lozano noted that “we act as a mirror,” reflecting the realities of both countries, and that these situations must therefore be addressed ethically and responsibly while promoting equity. This space, she explained, not only allows participants to share the tensions that arise among different disciplines, but also to jointly build new ideas, proposals, and aspirations.
“It has been extremely valuable to discover that, despite our different contexts, we share concerns and common commitments regarding governance, socioenvironmental conflicts, and participatory socioecological restoration. Although our institutional trajectories are different, we are driven by people’s well-being and by the goal of building pathways toward sustainability,” she said.
Meanwhile, Omar Ruiz Nieto, a researcher at the Humboldt Institute and leader of the Governance and Conflict Transformation research line at the Center for Social Appropriation, highlighted the opportunity to learn about the water-management experience of the Catruman community and its example of community-led governance supported by the IEB, which provided participants with key elements for interaction, knowledge sharing, and exchange.
“I would highlight the constructive dialogue we have been developing to think about and conceptualize socioecological restoration—in other words, understanding how social dimensions are incorporated into restoration processes. This integrated perspective, bringing together the social and ecological dimensions, allows us to open up new avenues for analysis and action, including work alongside communities,” he said.
Ruiz Nieto also noted that each research process carried out at the IEB’s long-term study sites—Fray Jorge and Senda Darwin—provides an opportunity for the Humboldt Institute to rethink its own biodiversity monitoring processes and consider how it might move toward a long-term monitoring framework with a significant social component.
“I believe there are important opportunities for learning and joint development that we could pursue,” he said.
Mónica Ortiz, a recently appointed IEB researcher and academic at the University of Concepción, who facilitated the dialogue and working matrix between the two institutes, highlighted the action-research process and the synergy between the two countries.
“We had the opportunity to exchange experiences based on the recognition that ecosystems are deeply coupled with social systems, that communities are part of nature, and that this relationship must also be reflected in governance, in the management of socioenvironmental conflicts, and in the way we conduct research.”
From her perspective, Ortiz highlighted the inspiration provided by Chiloé and the concept of the minga, in which everyone contributes to building something together.
“We have the opportunity to share, co-create, and build a common path. This is extremely important in the context of regional cooperation and from the perspective that we are part of the Global South, at the frontiers of science,” she emphasized.
She also underscored the value of short-, medium-, and long-term collaboration deeply rooted in communities.
The challenge now is to consider how this collaborative model can also become a model for socioecological restoration, engagement with territories, and, eventually, influence on public policy at both the local and international levels.
“I am very excited about everything we have envisioned as a result of this meeting: new meetings, joint activities, the possibility of publishing a book, and participating in international biodiversity forums, while also recognizing the Humboldt Institute’s leadership in these processes,” Ortiz said.
Committed Voices and Leaders from Chiloé and Monkul
More than an academic exchange, this meeting demonstrates that new forms of south-south cooperation are emerging in Latin America to jointly address the global socioenvironmental crisis. In a context marked by profound fragmentation—between nature and culture, the natural and social sciences, and different knowledge systems—the experience in Chiloé shows that it is possible to build bridges between scientific research, local knowledge, and place-based action.
These alliances not only strengthen knowledge generation but also create opportunities to advance socioecological transitions aimed at peace, sustainability, and biodiversity conservation.
Among the places where the IEB has collaborated and established ties with territorial communities to advance biocultural conservation are the municipality of Ancud, near the Senda Darwin Biological Station, and Monkul, on the coast of Chile’s Araucanía Region. At both sites, work has focused on community well-being through a socioecological approach.
Juan Corrales, from the Municipality of Ancud, reflected on the importance of including local stakeholders in the design of research policies and in defining the objectives of research centers over the short, medium, and long term, noting that this gives scientific work greater meaning.
“Today we are living through a critical moment in human history, when it is essential to ask ourselves what we conduct research for, why we do it, where we want to go, and what gives meaning to our actions. And those answers can only be built by bringing together academia, institutions, and the local stakeholders who experience this reality every day—a reality that is dynamic, changing, and under constant tension,” he said.
Corrales also noted the importance of seeing how researchers have been able to recognize the value of their own work and of the fraternal experience of coming together, learning, and creating.
“There is a sense of self-worth that belongs not only to the territories, but also to those who produce knowledge, and that is something we must value. It is important to recognize the people at the heart of these stories, with their strengths, concerns, and challenges. Sharing these experiences, communicating them, and supporting them is essential, because addressing the multiple crises we face requires a joint and coordinated effort.”
Meanwhile, Estela Nahuelpán, a leader of the Mateo Nahuelpán Lafkenche community on the coast of the Carahue and a representative of Ekos de Monkul, also took part in the meeting and learned about the approaches being developed in both countries around socioenvironmental restoration. “I believe both teams have been building significant strengths, creating enormous potential for future joint work. I think it is extremely important to highlight the participation of local communities, different stakeholders and, above all, Indigenous Peoples in the territories of both countries. Their perspectives and ways of understanding the world can help enrich research projects, while these projects can, in turn, make a highly valuable contribution to the territories and their people,” she said.
Finally, this institutional collaboration takes on strategic importance given that the Humboldt Institute was designated as a Subregional Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to support implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).
Together with the IEB—which receives funding from Chile’s National Agency for Research and Development (ANID)—the two institutions have consolidated a cooperation agenda aimed at promoting the generation and application of scientific knowledge, exchanging experiences, and strengthening capacities to respond to biodiversity conservation challenges across the region.
With extensive scientific experience and active participation in international advisory processes, both institutes contribute to assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), as well as to the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) of major environmental conventions.
This alliance demonstrates how scientific cooperation among countries of the Global South can become a driver of innovation, policy impact, and collective action, projecting collaborative solutions from Latin America to address the global challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.
