Why a one-size-fits-all approach to biodiversity won't work

Carmen Lacambra Segura is keen to tackle the challenges affecting biodiversity from an interdisciplinary perspective which takes into account all the different factors that affect it. That means taking more contextualised approaches and using data to make positive progress.

She has worked for over 30 years on resilience and climate adaptation, integrating science and evidence-based practices into her work and has contributed to two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. Carmen [2005] is Director of Research & Environmental Services for the Colombia-based consultancy Grupo Laera, which she co-founded in 2011 with her two brothers.

Her approach is in part about reinforcing ecosystems, communities and systems resilience, including adaptation and resilience metrics and evaluation. Laera works with artesanal fishers, smallholders, SMES, large enterprises, governments and world-leading organisations addressing climate adaptation and other global challenges with local action, science, policy and private and public sector initiatives. 

Since Covid, Grupo Laera has been supporting a women-led institution (América – Vedrunas) focused on education and social wellbeing for vulnerable populations in 12 countries across the Americas. The institution, which operates 18 educational and health centres, is working with students who these days have less of a religious vocation but more of an interest in social and environmental issues. Carmen says: “Our goal is to strengthen this evolution, ensuring that its positive impact continues and expands, reaching new generations committed to social change and environmental sustainability.”

The Laera team has also expanded to provide AI services for risk assessment in the financial sector.  She states that AI can predict financial risk but contains a high level of uncertainty, even where there is a lot of data. When it comes to the environment, including climate, there are so many variables. For example, although good data exists for some regions in the world, it is hard to come by in others and, although models are improving, including all the variables affecting one place is still a challenge.  

One big EU-funded project Carmen has been working on – which has brought her back into contact with Cambridge academics, including Professor Möller – is the NATURESCAPES research project which looks at urban landscapes in 30 cities mainly in Europe and the Americas and at how nature provides solutions, trade-offs and synergies. The project started a year ago. Carmen describes it as very multi-disciplinary, bringing together social scientists, geomorphologists and ecologists. “We are trying to understand the science, the processes and perspectives of different people and how, through different tools, we can create urban societies which are more aligned with nature,” she says. 

Carmen has also just finished another project on how to bring about sustainable economic growth in remote areas of Colombia in a changing climate. She spoke to local people to understand their context and what they needed. “I didn’t meet anyone who hated nature or didn’t believe in climate change, but they have other priorities. They have lived with climate variability and responded to hazards, but for them there are other things that are more urgent,” she says, although she notes that the young in particular are more worried about environmental degradation, deforestation and the consequent lack of water. 

In the last weeks Carmen has been preparing for the COP 16 which takes place in Cali from today. She hopes it will lead to a more solid biodiversity monitoring framework and that the Global South can showcase the successes it has achieved and how adequate financial mechanisms could reap greater returns. 

Read the full profile here.