The past few years have seen the emergence of an image of the Tropical Andean and Central American regions characterized by an emphasis on the complexity of the social formations and ecological diversity of these two regions.
This new picture, it is important to note, is being shaped in a theoretical context that favors the synergistic interaction between cognate fields in the social and natural sciences. However, achieving sustainable development in Latin America, and specifically in the Tropical Andes and Central America region (Andes+), continues to be a major challenge. Although some progress has been made towards an adequate understanding of the barriers that impede progress towards this goal, the advances have been more thematically driven than with an integrated approach; with collaborative efforts of existing networks, particularly from research and practice in mountains, focused on socio-ecological variables of sustainable development.
Overall, this context reveals the necessity of opportunities to promote collaborative arrangements, dynamize theoretical discussions, and articulate the accumulated experience of these communities of practice, to consolidate the ongoing efforts in the Andes+ region for overcoming the barriers that impede the successful implementation of sustainable development policies.
A key component of this CLOC is to promote academic collaboration between the Swiss and Andes+ CLOC partner members. In this sense, a series of virtual and non-virtual meetings will be organized by CONDESAN to a) identify and prioritize key knowledge gaps that act as bottlenecks for the formulation of effective responses to achieve sustainable development goals in the Andes+ region; b) design effective mechanisms for collaborative knowledge production and communication among key stakeholders; c) share CLOC partners’ accumulated experience in addressing the challenges of moving from knowledge generation to action; and d) articulate with other relevant sustainable development networks in the region.
Another important result of this network is the design and implementation of a virtual platform for the analysis and exchange of information on sustainable development. This process began with an assessment of the specific communication needs of the Conéctate A+ partners. Drawing on this process, we developed the contents of this web platform and designed a strategy to keep them up to date.
Conéctate A+ has implemented a small grant program to promote collaborative research linked to its priority areas of interest.
The progress and results of this network are being shared with a wider audience. To this end, we have created a monthly newsletter that is distributed to virtually thousands of subscribers linked to the networks of the institutions associated with Conéctate A+. This newsletter includes recent information on a) project funding opportunities; b) new publications on sustainability, health and climate change; and c) reviews of the most innovative initiatives on the topics of interest to this network.
