The recipe for economic growth lies in nature itself

Biodiversity should not be seen only as a natural liability to be conserved, but as an asset, the most critical resource available to Latin America and the Caribbean. This is one of the main conclusions of a report by CAF and the TIDE Centre of Oxford University presented at COP30.

The study also claims that natural wealth should be understood as a frontier of innovation capable of generating structural transformations in the economy, scientific, technological and industrial capabilities to close productivity gaps.

"With this work of CAF and the TIDE center of Oxford University we want to cultivate a new look to turn biodiversity into a factor of development and economic growth," said Alicia Montalvo, manager of Climate Action and Positive Biodiversity at CAF.

"The developing world is home to most of the planet's biodiversity, which is a vast library of biological intelligence built over 3.4 billion years of evolution. Yet this extraordinary heritage remains largely untapped for local development and sustainable innovation," said Amir Lebdioui, professor at the TIDE Centre at the University of Oxford.

"The region's challenges in terms of innovation require patient capital, risk management and a long-term view, and development banks have an important role to play in this regard," Lebdioui concluded.

The document describes how there are still extractivist traps that can keep the region trapped in models that prioritize the exploitation of natural resources for short-term rents, generating environmental degradation, loss of productive capacities and dependence on volatile price cycles. In addition, Latin America has some of the lowest levels of investment in R&D in the world, with a regional average of less than 0.6% of GDP and with more than half of the effort financed solely by the public sector, which limits the creation of technological capabilities and deepens the middle-income trap.

In this context, the paper stresses that bio-inspired innovation offers the greatest opportunity to transform biodiversity into development. Rather than extracting resources, this approach is based on learning from nature's solutions to create more efficient technologies and products. Complementary to the publication, CAF supports the Nature's Intelligence Studio of the TIDE Centre at the University of Oxford, also launched yesterday in the framework of COP30, an initiative aimed at accelerating the identification and development of bio-inspired solutions capable of responding to the productive and environmental challenges of the region.

The document invites the countries of the region to adopt a patient and transformative investment agenda, with a leading role for development banks to provide the necessary financing, close R&D gaps, strengthen scientific infrastructure and promote innovation ecosystems capable of converting biodiversity into technological capabilities, quality employment and sustainable prosperity.