Country overview 

Colombia is the third most populous country in Latin America and preserves a natural wealth, close to 10 percent of the planet’s biodiversity. Climate change impacts are expected to pose significant and long-term effects on fragile and unique ecosystems and accelerate the pace of land degradation, impacting water quality and agricultural production. As of 2019, 15.8 percent of the population is employed in agriculture - the sector is especially threatened by climate-induced weather events, such as La Niña, whose characteristics are strong periods of drought followed by intense rain. Agriculture in Colombia is vulnerable to soil aridity, erosion, and desertification, all of which already pose serious threats and are expected to increase with climate change, according to the World Bank Knowledge Portal. According to its updated nationally determined contribution (NDC) in 2020, Colombia represents only 0.4 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but 71.3 percent of domestic emissions come from agriculture and land use.

Colombia’s climate change plans and priorities 

Colombia submitted its first NDC in 2018, which outlined both mitigation and adaptation goals, as well as means of implementation. In December 2020, Colombia submitted a revised NDC with more ambitious adaptation priorities to increase capacities on private sector and producers in ten subsectors (rice, maize, potato, beef cattle, dairy, cocoa, banana, coffee and sugarcane). Energy and Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) are considered the most important sectors for mitigation. The revised NDCs state that Colombia is committed to emit a maximum of 169.44 million tonnes of CO₂ eq by 2030 (equivalent to a 51percent reduction in emissions compared to projected emissions in the 2030 scenario of reference). In the agriculture and land-use sector, this will be achieved with strategies reducing greenhouse gas emissions in key areas, namely the production of cocoa, rice, coffee, plantation forestry and cattle. Other commitments focus on improving the participation of three regions (Andina, Caribe and Orinoquía) in national agriculture roundtables and facilitating access to agroclimatic information for 1 million producers by 2030.  

Colombia was part of the IKI-funded NAP-Ag programme from 2015 to 2020, which facilitated the design of the Integral Management Plan of Climate Change for the Agricultural Sectors (PIGCCS), and its Action Plan (2019), which represents the national landmark for sectoral climate change planning. It addresses adaptation and mitigation articulately and converges with the broader national and territorial commitments on the stabilization and consolidation of affected areas by the armed conflict and the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Beforehand, the country adopted its NAP in 2012, "Plan Nacional de Adaptación al Cambio Climático (PNACC)”, and a roadmap for its elaboration in 2013, “Hoja de ruta para la elaboración de los planes de adaptación dentro del PNACC”. In 2020, under the adaptation planning funded by Green Climate Fund, the country elaborated a series of Strategies to strengthen the business sector in climate risk management to maintain competitiveness. 

Overcoming barriers in the implementation of climate plans 

Colombia has encountered a few notable barriers while implementing its climate plans, such as a lack of local capabilities, limited access to climate information and low involvement of the private sector. To overcome these challenges and to bridge the divide between national and local levels, the SCALA programme offers a range of supports articulated around the primary goal to accelerate the implementation of the NAP, NDCs and the Integral Management Plan for Climate Change (Plan Integral de Gestión del Cambio Climático PIGCCs). The SCALA programme will also build on the achievements made under the NAP-Ag programme and the NDC Partnership Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP).

In line with the NDC priorities, the SCALA programme and Colombia will prepare for the implementation of adaptation actions in five agricultural sub-sectors: rice, corn, meat and milk, sugarcane, and cocoa. This includes field and practical work with communities, unions, institutions, and territorial entities in the three regions of the country with the most significant agricultural potential. Specific activities include capacity building for institutional actors of the Andina Centre, participatory characterization of climate change impacts on sustainable agrifood systems, cost-benefit analysis (CBA), and Evaluation of Damage and Loss tools. 

SCALA in action

In Colombia, SCALA focuses on developing guidelines and capacity at the territorial level to implement adaptation actions in different geographical areas for priority agricultural commodities such as coffee, rice, maize, meat, milk, sugarcane, and cocoa.  

To this end, SCALA has contributed to the design of a Diploma in “Food Sustainability for Climate Action”, which provides scholarships and training to leaders of farmers’ organizations. SCALA has also conducted a participatory characterization of climate change impacts on sustainable agrifood systems in priority areas, including the Chingaza and Sumapaz paramos, two national park buffer zones. Through extended adaptation dialogues with local communities, it has also enabled the creation of four community climate action laboratories in the regions of Sumapaz, Corcunpaz, Fortaleza de la Montana, and Asorproquina. Two territorial observatories have also been launched to contribute to the characterization of agrifood systems and to scale up site-specific adaptation models that prioritize a biodiverse productive landscape.  

SCALA is currently collecting and organizing 15 agricultural Traditional Territorial Practices and Techniques (TTT) that are resilient to climate change. This will allow the development of a guide to systematize these TTTs for the strengthening of transformative adaptation to climate change. 

*The infographic is also available in Spanish|Disponible en Español.

At the subnational level, SCALA supported the development of a Public Policy for Integrated Climate Change Management in the State of Cundinamarca 2023–2050, which was approved and adopted in June 2023. This policy is linked to the Comprehensive National Climate Change Management Plan for the Agricultural Sector (PIGCCs) and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). At the national level, SCALA is conducting a cost–benefit analysis for five prioritized value chains and developing a cost analysis and monitoring tool to support the implementation of adaptation and mitigation measures of the PIGCCs.  

Other activities have included the development of a community-level Loss and Damage Analysis tool for the agriculture sector, and the organization of workshops with local communities to promote participatory dialogue and unveil the hidden value of the relationship between gender and climate change.  

Since its inception, SCALA has also sought to enhance dialogue with the private sector on mitigation and adaptation actions in priority value chains. These efforts have included the development of guidelines for the certification of agriculture resilient to climate change for micro, small and medium-sized coffee and potato farms, as an incentive to access institutional programmes, social protection mechanisms, services, and financial relief. As part of this activity, SCALA supported the application of the FAO’s Adaptation, Biodiversity and Carbon Mapping (ABC-Map) tool by subnational government representatives, providing inputs for the development of climate change certification in agriculture. Finally, SCALA supports the mobilization of voluntary agreements with the private sector, to provide a basis for new financing options for communities in partnership with the private sector.   

The programme also supported the Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to mobilize USD 75 000 to develop a national roadmap focusing on alternatives to reduce the open burning of prioritized crops.  

Moving forward – 2024 and beyond 

Moving forward, SCALA in Colombia aims to: 

• Produce a guide to systematize 15 traditional territorial agricultural practices and techniques.  
• Collaborate with local government officials to integrate adaptation and mitigation actions into local development plans. 
• Produce a documentary film on the creation of climate change laboratories in the Sumapaz and Chingaza regions. 
• Design and consolidate a tool for community-level Loss and Damage assessment tool. 
• Contribute to the creation of a High Mountain Ecological Restoration School, in partnership with the Javeriana University.
• Support the review, prioritization, and quantification of adaptation and mitigation actions of the Comprehensive Plan for Climate Change Management of the Agricultural Sector (PIGCC-Ag), including through cost–benefit analyses of five value chains prioritized by the Ministry of Agriculture.  
• Design guidelines for the certification of agriculture resilient to climate change for micro-, small- and medium-scale emerging producers in the coffee, potato, and horticulture sectors. 
• Develop guidelines for identifying financial incentives for climate action in the agricultural sector. 

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