ACBC: Alliance of Cities for the Biogeographic Chocó

Overview 

The Biogeographic Chocó (BC) is a strategic mega-ecological corridor for Latin America and the Caribbean due to its high concentration of biological diversity; it encompasses 11,000 recorded plant species (25% of which are endemic) and 1,891 recorded vertebrate species, with 19.8% endemicity. Spanning several countries in the region—notably Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Costa Rica, its coastal and ocean ecosystems serve as critical migratory routes for species such as humpback whales and sea turtles, while its tropical forests act as corridors for endemic species such as the golden poison frog and the great green macaw. Nonetheless, despite its vital role in biodiversity preservation and as a global carbon sink due to its vast tropical forests and mangroves, this corridor remains undervalued, underinvested, and under-researched. Currently, it faces compounding crises: illegal mining activity that has increased fourteenfold, contaminating water sources with mercury and heavy metals; illicit crops alongside a 14-fold increase in drug seizures that exacerbate deforestation, violence, and socio-environmental challenges; a migration crisis with over 500,000 migrants crossing the Darién Gap under dangerous and precarious conditions; and unplanned urban growth—driven largely by mining booms, systemic violence, structural inequality, and shifting migration flows—that drives ecological fragmentation and ecosystem degradation around many of its cities.

The Alliance of Cities for the Biogeographic Chocó (ACBC) emerges as a collective effort by nine pivotal cities, including Limón (Costa Rica); Panama City and Colón (Panama); Cali, Quibdó, Buenaventura and Tumaco (Colombia); and Manta and Guayaquil in (Ecuador). The alliance establishes a unified framework to address the overarching threats facing the BC. Specifically, it fosters collaboration in knowledge-generation, the exchange of best practices, and the pooling of resources among member municipalities, while promoting collective action to develop joint projects that amplify regional impact through coordinated efforts.

From Research to Action: The Start of an Alliance within the framework of COP16

The ACBC was launched in October 2024 under the leadership of the City of Cali, within the framework of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) hosted in Cali, Colombia. This milestone event brought together mayors, researchers, and multilateral organizations to discuss the escalating threats to the Biogeographic Chocó and establish cities as key actors in the corridor. NACERA Lab, in its role as the Technical Secretariat of the Alliance, presented critical research findings on the socio-environmental challenges facing the BC, alongside the environmental priorities of ACBC member cities. These priorities span rapid and unplanned urbanization, urban heat islands, flooding vulnerability, illegal mining, habitat loss, and inadequate environmental monitoring systems. The event culminated in the signing of the pact "Cities United for Biodiversity: Coalition Against Illegal Economies Affecting the Environment," marking a commitment to collective action against one of the primary threats to the BC.