Colombia at Crossroads: Navigating Regional Divides and Embracing Opportunities

“People are the real wealth of a nation” (UNDP, 1990). Colombia's great wealth lies in its diverse people, cultures, and extraordinary ecosystems. It boasts both Atlantic and Pacific coastlines and is home to the Chocó Biogeographical Region, as well as rivers, tributaries, wetlands, biological corridors like the jaguar corridor, the Amazon, and many other contrasting features that make the country a rich source of literary inspiration.

The country has made strides in economic, social, political, and environmental domains throughout the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, significant inequalities persist, hindering communities and entire regions from fully accessing the benefits of human development and undermining their ability to live with dignity and freedom.

Velia Vidal, a writer from the Chocó region and one of the BBC's hundred most influential and inspiring women, captures this sentiment: “Exclusion makes you unaware of aspects of development: the more excluded you are, the smaller your world becomes.” She voices the concerns of one of Colombia's most biodiverse yet troubled regions.

The National Human Development Report 2024 (NHDR), published to mark the 50th anniversary of the UNDP country office in Colombia, focuses on the importance of regions. Inspired by the 2019 Global Report, it moves beyond income averages and current situations to understand the complex regional dynamics that inhibit people and their environments from reaching their potential.

This report addresses a regional divide that limits people’s ability to develop their capabilities. This divide shifts depending on socio-economic factors, the prevalence of conflict, ecosystem integrity, and institutional capacity.

Opportunities in Antioquia, one of the 14 departments with high human development, differ significantly from those in La Guajira, which has moderate human development levels, or Vaupés, one of the two departments with the lowest levels. Over the past decade, these disparities have only widened.

The goal is not for Guainía to mirror Bogotá’s development path but for each region, with its unique geographic, environmental, cultural, and productive characteristics, to enable its inhabitants to define and pursue a good life. This opportunity should be available regardless of birthplace, social status, gender, ethnicity, or religious or political beliefs.

This report invites us to forge new human development pathways in harmony with nature. Human development cannot be imposed but must be pursued collaboratively with local communities, integrating regional contexts, and involving local institutions and stakeholders from all sectors.

Colombia stands at a pivotal crossroads. The country can either persist with a development model that excludes vast regions and depletes ecosystems or embrace alternative pathways for sustainable human development. We now understand that the benefits of peace outweigh the costs of conflict and that global issues like climate change impact even the most remote areas. Instead of clinging to outdated models that prioritize economic growth over ecological integrity and equity, Colombia has an opportunity to set a global example of balanced development.

It is time for Colombia to embrace convergent human development, where political, economic, and social systems are interdependent with local and global biodiversity and ecosystems.

Why wait for exclusion to make “our world smaller”? This is Colombia’s chance to lead by example once again.

Sara Ferrer Olivella
Resident Representative of the UNDP in Colombia