Scholars and local communities present the Project's results and expect replicability in similar initiatives
COMET-LA project presented its results in a Policy Conference, 10-11 November, at the Unidad de Seminarios "Ignacio Chávez" of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM by its acronym in Spanish). The Conference was organized by the Mexican team of the project and was institutionally supported by the University of Córdoba's Rector, José Carlos Villamandos, and by the Association of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean (UDUAL by its acronym in Spanish).
During two days, COMET-LA members and local community representatives gathered CONABIO (National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity), Colombia's Humboldt Institute, the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) and other national and international institutions. The Conference was the scenario to present the results achieved, the lessons learned and the options for the future. A learning environment and a fruitful debate were the common ground as so far has been COMET-LA's Learning Arena.
Local communities of Argentina, Colombia and Mexico had a key role in the Conference, since its main goal was to present results to the policy makers in a practical way. Community representatives of Bajo Calima and Alto Medio Dagua (Colombia), Santiago Comaltepec (Mexico) and Monte Hermoso (Argentina) explained the contributions of the project to the management of their environmental resources in terms of its environmental, economic and institutional aspects. They also highlighted the need of institutional strengthening and capacity building for sustainable management.
Though COMET-LA comes to an end next January 14th 2015, researchers and local community representatives agreed that the project has planted a seed at the communities fostering advances in governance and sustainability of their Socio-Ecological Environments.
