This document aims to explain the rationale behind the strategic approach based on territory, borders and clusters dimensions adopted by the IDB Group's Amazon Initiative. This approach is based on the knowledge of the territory as well as on a deep analysis of statistics, indicators and geospatial data carried out by the Amazonia360 team and partners.
As we will see, the complexity and dimensions of the Amazonian territory require a prioritization exercise with strong analytical and scientific bases. This prioritization will support the Initiative's investment programming efforts and facilitate the monitoring of the portfolio of operations and their impacts.
The document will allow to understand the logic of scales of work starting by considering the territorial approach as a whole, then prioritizing the frontier areas for their relevance in the integration of efforts at the regional level and finally the concentration of efforts in certain clusters carefully selected jointly with IDB clients and teams in the region.
The cartographic products and geospatial data produced in the context of this analysis contribute to strengthen Amazonia360's geospatial intelligence and offer strategic support to IDB Group users and their clients.
A VAST AND COMPLEX TERRITORY
The IDB's Amazon Initiative work area is:
8.3 million square kilometers
40% of the IDB LAC work area
60M inhabitants (including areas of influence of large cities)
3M indigenous people
If it were a country, the Amazon Initiative work area would be the 6th largest in the world. With a population directly linked to the territory of almost 60M inhabitants it would be the 27th most populated one.
THE BORDER RATIONALE
Considering the complexity and dimensions of this territory, the IDB's Amazon Initiative initially seeks to concentrate efforts in border areas considered strategic for the countries. Paradoxically, if we want to address the development and conservation of the Amazon in a holistic manner, we must begin by understanding and addressing these border regions. Indeed, these border regions are important for the following reasons:
- Important spaces for commercial and cultural exchange with high levels of informality.
- For some countries, they are priority regions for ensuring national sovereignty and defense through incentives for settlement.
- In many cases they are economically disadvantaged regions, as they may not receive the same level of investment and development as other parts of the country due to their remoteness from the centers of power.
- They are culturally diverse and may face challenges related to integration and inclusion.
- They are areas prone to fragility, vulnerability and crime as they tend to be geographically isolated and are difficult for state authorities to access and monitor.
- They can be affected by conflict, migration and insecurity in neighboring countries.
- For geopolitical reasons, they may represent an obstacle to ecosystem connectivity.
- They are invisible to the indigenous territorial vision, which can generate certain types of conflicts and tensions with other actors in this territory.
The work area of the Amazon Initiative includes 14,600 km of international border lines. If we place a buffer zone of 100 km on both sides of these border lines, the territory defined by this buffer represents 2.1 million km2, i.e. 25% of the entire work area of the Initiative and concentrates a significant amount of problems faced by the region. Concentrating efforts in these border regions leverages the Initiative's impact and addresses the challenge of regional development from a territorial and integration perspective.
Borders by numbers
14,608.7
Approximate total length of international border lines (in Km)
15
Border segments
2,106,920
Territory defined by the 100 km buffer on border lines (in Km2)
385
adm2 units are intersected by the 100 km buffer
6,040,157
Estimated population for the 100 km buffer over border lines (GHS-EU, 2022)
214
Urban centers located within a 100 km buffer along the international borders within the IA work area
INTERPRETING THE BORDER AREAS
1. Population in border areas
Interpretation: The border areas between Ecuador and Peru as well as between Brazil and Bolivia are the most densely populated.
2. Administrative entities included in the border areas
Interpretation: The work area includes 1,456 adm2 units (municipalities, provinces, etc.). A total of 385 adm2 units are intersected by the 100 km buffer along the international borders. Among them, 303 have more than 25 percent of their territory within the buffer. 186 units have all, or almost all, of their territory within the buffer, they are entirely frontier territory.
This means that in the territory under direct influence of the border, within the 100 km border buffer (two million sq. km.) there are an estimated total of 6 millon people.
3. Carbon sequestration in biomass by border area
4. Species richness by border area
5. Ecosystems represented in border areas
6. Land cover in border areas
7. Protected areas in border areas
8. Fire incidence between 2010 and 2020
THE CLUSTER RATIONALE
In this way, it seeks to consolidate alliances with regional partners around common problems in areas of high importance for regional functioning and integration. In this way, development and conservation efforts are optimized by consolidating synergies among actors, promoting economies of scale and fostering knowledge sharing.
The specific areas chosen to initiate actions are those that function as "clusters", groups of population settlements and activities with similar needs and deficiencies. These clusters are in the process of identification and analysis, in a joint work with local actors, regional and international partners and IDB Group teams. The clusters are defined on the ground based on one or more second-level political-administrative entities (municipalities or provinces). Thus, the composition of a cluster facilitates the identification of public and private actors in each entity and ensures the greatest proximity to the local population and local institutions and administrators.
Identification of clusters, catalog of urban centers.
We use population raster models, each pixel containing the estimated number of inhabitants.
These are high-resolution GHS models that combine the characteristics of human settlements, as they appear in satellite images, and statistical population data providing a continuous demographic surface.
A first cluster of concentration of attention and effort is centered at the three border intersection of Brazil, Colombia and Peru, on the Amazon River.
Influence of population centers weighted by population.
Located in peripheral areas of their respective countries, the three border clusters identified have different population density conditions, different economic dynamics. Cachoeira-Rio Negro is the least populated, with great biocommercial potential.
Boa Vista and Cobija-Rio Branco have a denser population, the location of Leticia - Tabatinga on the Amazon gives them a very important position in commercial traffic.
The Brazil-Colombia-Peru Cluster
Credits:
Created with images by Mark - "Colorful plumage of a Macaw in the Amazon rainforest" • drgost - "Rainforest of Amazon in South America from the space view, realistic planet Earth rotation" • paulovilela - "BELEM DO PARA, BRAZIL - CIRCA NOVEMBER 2015: Aerial view of Belem do Para" • eugpng - "Hammocks hanged on the cruise on the Rio Amazons on the way to Belem from Manaus in Brazil" • Wil.Amaya - "PUERTO INIRIDA GUAINIA - Colombia" • jkraft5 - "Puerto Narino and River View"