Colombia launches first BioTrade Observatory in Andean region

 

On 8 June 2006, Colombia’s BioTrade Programme launched its National Biotrade Observatory – Obio – the first in the Andean region. It represents a fundamental tool for the decision-making of entrepreneurs and local communities toward competitiveness, by publishing basic and analytical information on promising markets and products from Colombia’s biodiversity.

 Obio was conceived and developed by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute through the BioTrade Programme and the export promotion agency Proexport Colombia. It is an information mechanism for the analysis of enterprises, markets and technologies of BioTrade. Its primary objective is to generate and publish information to entrepreneurs, communities, the government and the academic sector, and to support decision-making processes toward the sustainable use of biodiversity.  

 The observatory looks forward to promoting BioTrade products, and to become a place where the offer and demand of products come together. Likewise, it will formulate market and product-sector analyses, assist with information on technologies, and track management and competitiveness indicators in BioTrade enterprises.

 Products such as crafts made by indigenous and afro-communities, Amazon fruits, such as copoazú, arazá, cocona and camu-camu, cat’s claw, ornamental fish, butterflies, organic coffee, honey, foliages and native flowers, aromatics and medicinal plants, and ecotourism are a sample of the product portfolio from Colombia’s biodiversity that the Biotrade programme seeks to promote.

The Observatory was launched in the presence of 130 persons from the government and academic sector, communities and enterprise groups, and international cooperation. All the information about the biodiversity markets and products of Colombia can be found at www.humboldt.org.co/obio.