CONDESAN: Promoting Long-Term Monitoring at Different Scales to Support Natural Resource Governance in the Andean Countries

Effective governance of natural resources requires robust information about a diverse set of social and ecological dynamics. CONDESAN (the Consorcio para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ecorregión Andina) is making progress in the Andean region to generate, manage, and mobilize knowledge about key social, economic, and environmental processes and to make them available to actors who most need it for decision-making. The approaches integrate tools at multiple scales, emphasizing the diverse nature of the drivers and impacts of environmental change and promoting long-term monitoring within collaborative networks. True integration of social and environmental observation platforms is still a challenge, but current progress and future initiatives will allow CONDESAN to generate sound alternatives for the Andes.