2023-05-01 10:03:46
Between April 19 and 21, Buenos Aires hosted the Second meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP2) of the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, better known as Escazu Agreement.
Approved in Costa Rica in 2018 and signed by 24 countries, of which 15 ratified it, the Escazú Agreement is the first environmental treaty in the region and is the only one in the world to incorporate specific provisions on human rights defenders in environmental matters.
For experts, there is a harsh reality: Latin America and the Caribbean is the most dangerous region to be an environmental activist and one of the most affected by the climate crisis. Almost 70 percent of the murders of environmental defenders take place in Latin America, to which is added a large number of threats, episodes of violence, and intimidation against those who seek to protect the territory.
“We are convinced that regional integration and multilateralism is what will allow us to respond to great challenges that are very complex and that no country will be able to solve on its own. It is in integration, especially from our region and for our region, where we will be able to reach solutions that are more sustainable in the long term for development.”, assured the CTyS-UNLaM Agency Cecilia Nicolini, Secretary of Climate Change and Sustainable Development and Innovation of the Ministry of Environment of the Nation.
The objective of this extraordinary Conference held in Argentina -the Agreement is carried out every two years: last year it was held in Santiago de Chile, in a hybrid format, and the next one will be again in the bordering country-, focused on defining the election of the members of the Enforcement and Compliance Support Committee (see box), financing mechanisms, and generation of an Action Plan to guarantee the protection of environmental defenders on the continent.
Likewise, the States Parties announced the launch of the Voluntary Contributions Fund, which will be voluntary contributions from the member countries, with Mexico and Chile as the first to make their contributions official.
After two days of cooperative work and towards the end of the second day, the countries also approved the “Buenos Aires Declaration“, a document in which they expressed their commitment to advance on the issues that must be discussed at the Third Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 3), to be held in 2024, based in Santiago, Chile.
What actions are being carried out in Argentina to implement the Agreement?
During the Conference, Argentina presented its National Plan for the Implementation of the Agreement, where, under the principle of transparency, they detailed the instances of internal work as those open to citizen participation.
According to the Secretariat for Climate Change, the Ministry of the Environment is working with a team of consultants from ECLAC, the World Bank and various organizations to generate a roadmap for the governance scheme to implement the Escazú Agreement at the national level. , as well as to define the Early Participation of Organizations in decision-making and access to justice.
“We are at a turning point where we hope that the debate between environment and development is over. The one without the other is not possible, it is not viable. We are facing a triple planetary crisis of climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution, which requires us to think about economic development and growth to respond to major problems that we have such as poverty and inequality.”Nicolini concluded.
The COP2 held in Argentina brought together 15 delegations from States Parties, eight delegations from observer countries, 357 representatives of the public, 110 government delegates, 74 representatives of the United Nations and international organizations, with more than 600 accredited people in total.
Press contact: AGUSTINA JULIETA LIMA Scientific journalism agency CTyS-UNLaM
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