@misc{37238,
title = {Advancing Ecosystem Accounting for Financing Protected Areas: Colombia Case Study},
author = {Angarita, Héctor and Goldstein, Jesse and Mandle, Lisa and Moreno Miranda, Jaime and Vargas Rayo, Orlando and Díaz Giraldo, Carolina and Villalba Pardo, Fabián Dario and Diaz Campos, Camilo  and Barbosa Rodriguez, Lina Vanessa},
editor = {Callau, Vanessa and Llaguno, Duval and Kimbrell, Elana and Ruckelshaus, Mary and Watson, Gregory and Wilson, Zoe },
year = {2025},
doi = {10.18235/0013735},
abstract = {This document outlines the activities and results of the Colombian pilot project under a Regional Technical Cooperation (TC), “Transforming Policy and Investment through Mainstreaming Rapid Approaches for Natural Capital Assessment and Accounting.” This TC was funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), implemented by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and executed by Stanford University. The main beneficiaries and co-designers of this TC are the Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the National Department of Statistics (DANE), the National Planning Department (DNP), and the technical work was led by the Stanford-based Natural Capital Project (NatCap). This work also received funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The main objective of this pilot project was to advance the design of financing mechanisms to strengthen Colombia's national system of protected areas (known as SINAP), as outlined in Colombia's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). The project developed an economic valuation of the flows of ecosystem services  natures benefits to people  from protected areas in the Northeastern Andes region to priority economic sectors (sanitation, energy,  agriculture, tourism, and forestry) of several municipalities in Colombia (Tunja, Sogamoso, and Duitama). The team used  he methodological and conceptual standards of the United Nations System of Environmental Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) to develop a replicable and scalable approach to valuing ecosystem services. This valuation provides a key input for equitable compensation and financing mechanisms, such as payments to rural land stewards or entities responsible for managing protected areas, to help them maintain the ecosystem services in support of the economic activities and population centers that rely on them.},
url = {https://doi.org/10.18235/0013735}
}