Since 2018, The International Joint Laboratory BIO_INCA has gathered the expertise of dozens of colombian, Ecuadorian and French researchers to promote the emergence of an operational research and capacity building platform, specialized in integrative studies, from genomes to ecosystem services, of the natural and cultivated ecosystems of the Tropical Andes (see BIO_INCA report 2018-2022). Building on extensive interdisciplinary collaborations that have emerged over the last years, our team proposes to conduct a second phase of the LMI (2023-2027) during which our diverse array of research expertises, capacity building and transfer activities will converge on three model systems: the paramos (high altitude andean grasslands), forests (in particular palm socioecosystems and Yasuní), and crops (in particular the management of diseases, pests and pollinators and valuation of agrobiodiversity). To develop a scientific project in line with sustainability stakes of paramount importance in the three institutions the LMI will particularly support : 1) Problemcentered research projects that find their source in a confrontation with real-world issues (rather than in the dynamics of the scientific disciplines it mobilizes), and that allows a global understanding of the major development challenges. 2) Activities favoring interdisciplinarity (and inclusion of local communities), which is justified because the major issues of our society call for a both environmental and social viewpoints. 3) Activities favoring a multistakeholder co-construction, involving research actors and a wide range of actors in order to bring out issues related to the needs of society. Overall, the vision of the LMI BIO_INCA is to have built after 5 years, a research-based plateform on integrative sustainability research in socio-ecosystems of the tropical Andes, which supports a science that is the expression of both the creative independance of researchers and their responsibility with regard to societal issues.

Biodiversité, Climate change, Sustainable food systems