VISION

To establish the Directorate of the MAVDT as the entity responsible for generating the technical bases on which to lead and guide the definition of environmental policy, environmental management, and decision-making in relation to biological diversity with an ecosystem focus that contributes to the sustainable development of the country.

MISSION

To contribute, through the issuance of policies and regulations and the performance of environmental management activities, to the preservation, conservation, restoration, management, use and exploitation of the biological diversity at ecosystem, species, genome other organizational levels, as a current and potential strategic basis for the sustainable development of the country.

Because the ecosystems and biodiversity are strategic social, economic and cultural development resources, they should be researched, conserved and used in a sustainable manner, as defined in the Convention on Biological Diversity, in order to guarantee the supply of environmental services.

The public, private and civil society sectors share responsibility for managing the natural heritage, and, therefore, this task should be decentralized and participatory.

The ecosystems are vital spaces for rural, Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, in which respect for traditional ancestral knowledge is fundamental.

Community territories cover 25 million hectares, and biodiversity provides direct food security to the local populations. The biodiversity supplies raw materials for industrial processes and water resources for human consumption, and it serves as the basis for agricultural and industrial activities.

MISSION OBJECTIVES

• To formulate environmental policies related to biological diversity at an ecosystem, species and genome level, and to coordinate the implementation and monitoring of approved policies (Wetlands, Biological Diversity, Marine and Coastal Zones, Forests, Fauna), strategies (prevention and control of the illegal traffic in wild species), plans (National Forest Development Plan, National Action Plan in the Fight against Desertification, National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Forest Fires and the Restoration of Affected Areas), and programs (Páramos [high elevation neo-tropical ecosystems], Mangrove Swamps, Threatened Species).

• To define the technical criteria for the environmental planning and management of the territory, with a view toward integrating the sustainable use and management of the biological diversity for the economic and social development of the country.

• To provide the technical criteria necessary for the prevention, mitigation, correction and compensation of the adverse effects of sectoral policies and programs on the biological diversity.

• To propose, jointly with the Parks Unit, policies and strategies for the creation and consolidation of the Protected Areas System.

• To regulate the general conditions for the preservation, conservation, restoration, management, use and sustainable exploitation of the biological diversity.

• To formulate strategies for the development of productive alternatives based on the sustainable exploitation of the environmental goods and services derived from the biological diversity.

• To support the creation of instruments for the management of genetic, biosecurity and biotechnological resources.

• To establish the biological diversity research priorities that should be pursued by research institutes at ecosystem, species, genome and other levels, and to monitor their implementation.