On behalf of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, Mauro Ruffino presented the Amazon Regional Observatory in the webinar The Twin Transition: Digitization and Climate Change, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Embassies of Denmark in Latin America, on the 6th of December.
Giving an overview of the Observatory, Ruffino highlighted how ACTO is supporting Amazonian countries to improve or develop their biodiversity systems and digital infrastructure. The ORA coordinator also explained how the Climate Change Module will be developed.
The event aimed to discuss the digital transition for policy implementation. Representatives from the Danish government’s technology and environment agencies, the United Nations Environment Program and cBrain shared their views on the importance of digital in accelerating solutions to the impact of climate change.
Among the good practice cases presented is the case of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, which handles thousands of CITES permit applications (mainly for imports) every year. The solution replaced manual annual report accounting with a fully digital end-to-end solution. In addition, integration with the CITES database was established, thus ensuring that the self-service is always up to date with the list of species.
An adapted version of this digital solution is being implemented with the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission (GWCMC) in South America to comply with the CITES Convention and protect the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest. Licensed exporters are assigned annual quotas and register their exports on a case-by-case basis. The system monitors the total quota and is integrated with a regional database of the Regional Observatory of the Amazon (ARO), which maintains a specific record of biodiversity projects and activities in the Amazon.
Published in Bioamazon Newsletter, #18, November-December 2022.
