November 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 39RACHEL NUWER
It is likely that many more species still await discovery. In
nine major expeditions conducted across the country since
2015, scientists have documented hundreds of plants, animals
and fungi, dozens of which appear to be new to science—includ-
ing a freshwater ray with leopardlike polka dots, a peculiar
sponge that wraps itself around mangrove tree branches like an
insect nest, and a fish with no eyes. “Can you imagine it’s 2019
and we’re still discovering what we have?” remarks Gisele Didi-
er Lopez, leader of the development unit at Humboldt. “It gives
us goosebumps, like, ‘Oh, my God, this was there and we didn’t
even know it!’ ”
But as peacetime opens up places such as Cubará for explo-
ration, it simultaneously makes way for development. Roads
are being constructed, land is being cleared and forests are
disappearing. “The rate of landscape change is faster than
our capacity to do research,” says Acevedo-Charry, who curates
the Collection of Environmental Sounds at Humboldt. “If
we do not categorize biodiversity quickly and continuously
around Colombia, we will lose it before we even know what we
need to protect.”
Acevedo-Charry, Didier and their colleagues at Humboldt
are at the forefront of efforts not only to discover the breadth of
Colombia’s biodiversity but also to find ways to turn it into thecenterpiece of a society bolstered by sustainability, resilience
and green economics. “This is not the classical do-not-touch
approach to biodiversity,” Didier says. “Instead we want to use
biodiversity as an ingredient in the recipe for economic growth—
without destroying it.” The ultimate goal, she says, is “to make
biodiversity a capital asset for development.”
Since 2016 the institute’s 123 experts, along with other scien-
tists and nonprofit organizations from Colombia and beyond,
have frantically worked to draw up a vision of what a green
Colombia might look like—and to create a roadmap for getting
there. Didier and her colleagues may be in a unique position to
do so. By law, Humboldt—which receives half its funding from
the government and the other half from fundraising—is in
charge of studying and reporting on Colombia’s biodiversity. Its
mission goes beyond cataloguing: the staff also are responsible
for pursuing applied science that informs policy-making deci-
sions and ultimately bridges the gap between society and gov-
ernment. Diego J. Lizcano, a biodiversity specialist at the
Nature Conservancy, explained that because the institute is
directly connected to the government, officials take its findings
more seriously than those of NGOs and university researchers.
But as Colombia races forward with postconflict develop-
ment, the window is quickly closing on realizing a rosy future inSCIENTISTS ARE TEAMING UP with local experts such as Saul San
chez ( 1, 2 ) to survey bird diversity and develop ecotourism. An other
researcher picks up bird calls with a parabolic microphone ( 3 ).1 23© 2019 Scientific American