Sustainable Biocommerce Corporation promotes film forum to reflect on mangroves, resilience and climate security from territorial perspectives

• In the framework of the PARES project, implemented by CATIE, the Sustainable Biocommerce Corporation in Colombia promoted a dialogue space through cinema to reflect on the value of mangroves as key ecosystems for life and climate resilience.

Within the framework of the Peace, Action, Resilience and Sustainability in Latin American Landscapes (PARES) project, the Sustainable Biocommerce Corporation, a beneficiary organization of the project in Colombia, organized a film forum aimed at reflecting on the role of mangroves in community life, ecosystem conservation and the construction of climate resilience in coastal territories.

The activity opened a sensitive and profound conversation about what mangroves represent for the people and communities that coexist with them. From the initial reflections, participants associated mangroves with words such as life, resilience, ecosystem, territory, diversity, community, food, history, biodiversity and climate change, demonstrating that these ecosystems are not only natural spaces, but also territories of memory, livelihood and hope.

El espacio fue posible gracias al liderazgo de la Corporación Biocomercio Sostenible, que facilitó el diálogo y promovió el uso del cine como una herramienta para conectar la experiencia territorial con los desafíos del cambio climático, la seguridad humana y las ,.

From the PARES project, implemented by CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), special thanks are extended to the people and organizations that made possible the screening and dissemination of the featured film, as well as their openness to share this audiovisual material as a starting point for collective reflection.

Cinema as a bridge to talk about territory, climate and life

The film forum highlighted the value of cinema and visual arts as resources for discussing complex topics from a close, human and territorial perspective. Through the film, participants were able to connect with stories, concerns and relationships existing between communities and mangroves.

Beyond being a sensitization activity, the event became an opportunity to discuss how the degradation of coastal ecosystems can affect livelihoods, food security, biodiversity, community cohesion and the ability of people to remain in their territories with dignity.

From this perspective, cinema helped translate the nexus between climate change, environment, peace and security into images, voices and concrete experiences. The conversation showed that climate impacts are not only reflected in environmental indicators, but also in people’s daily lives, their forms of organization, local economies and future opportunities.

Mangroves that protect, nourish and sustain communities

During the exchange, participants highlighted the essential role mangroves play in protecting coastal areas, regulating water systems, conserving biodiversity and providing livelihoods. For many communities, mangroves are also sources of food, workspaces, cultural references and natural barriers against increasingly intense extreme events.

The Sustainable Biocommerce Corporation shared the importance of viewing mangroves not only from their ecological value, but also from their social and community dimensions. These ecosystems sustain productive activities, local knowledge, collaborative relationships and ways of life that directly depend on their conservation.

In contexts marked by climate variability, pressure on natural resources and the vulnerability of coastal communities, mangroves become strategic allies to reduce risks, strengthen livelihoods and promote territorial resilience.

Nature-based solutions with a community perspective

The film forum reaffirmed that nature-based solutions gain greater meaning when they are designed, understood and implemented from local realities. The conservation, restoration and sustainable management of mangroves can help reduce exposure to climate threats, protect livelihoods, strengthen community organization and create opportunities for a more balanced coexistence between people and ecosystems.

In this sense, mangroves represent a concrete expression of how nature can be part of the response to the climate and social challenges faced by territories. Protecting them does not only imply conserving trees or biodiversity, but also safeguarding ways of life, memories, community economies and local capacities to face climate change.

The space promoted by the Sustainable Biocommerce Corporation made this connection visible and opened questions about how to strengthen territorial governance, community participation and collaboration among local organizations, communities and institutions to protect these strategic ecosystems.

Learning from territorial voices

One of the main contributions of the film forum was recognizing the value of local voices in knowledge-building, where participants had the opportunity to hear from women leaders representing community-based organizations such as Raíces del Manglar and ethno-territorial organizations such as the Rescate Las Varas Community Council. The reflections shared during the session demonstrated that territories are not merely places where projects are implemented, but living spaces from which knowledge, concerns, proposals and unique understandings of resilience emerge.

For PARES, these types of processes are fundamental because they allow climate action to be built not in isolation, but in dialogue with those who closely understand the risks, opportunities and social and environmental dynamics of each landscape.

The leadership of the Sustainable Biocommerce Corporation in this initiative helped bring together cinema, territorial dialogue and nature-based solutions, generating an exchange that recalled a central idea: protecting mangroves also means protecting future possibilities. It means safeguarding ecosystems that sustain life, but also community relationships, livelihoods and capacities to face climate change impacts. It reaffirmed that mangroves are not only ecosystems, but also territories of life, culture and care, and that protecting them also contributes to building peace.

PARES: art, learning and climate action from territories

This film forum is part of the learning and exchange spaces promoted by PARES to strengthen local capacities and expand reflection on the nexus between climate change, environment, peace and security.

Through this type of activity, the project seeks to open new forms of dialogue that connect technical knowledge with local experiences, community narratives and the sensitive languages of art. Cinema thus becomes a tool to view territories from different perspectives, recognize their challenges and value the responses already emerging from communities.

The experience also opens the possibility of continuing to promote new film forums in other Latin American landscapes, incorporating short films, documentaries and audiovisual pieces that foster dialogue about the relationship between nature, human security, climate resilience and peacebuilding.

About the PARES project

The Peace, Action, Resilience and Sustainability in Latin American Landscapes (PARES) project is implemented by CATIE in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), within the framework of the EU–UNEP Partnership on Climate, Environment, Peace and Security.

PARES operates in six countries —Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador— strengthening local capacities for territorial analysis, the design of nature-based solutions and the management of risks associated with the nexus between climate change, environment, peace and security.