{"id":126371,"date":"2023-04-18T12:10:57","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T11:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/?p=126371"},"modified":"2023-04-20T14:07:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T13:07:07","slug":"cop-escazu-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/event\/cop-escazu-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"What is happening at the Escaz\u00fa Agreement COP?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Representatives from Latin American and Caribbean countries will meet from 19 until 21 April in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During the second Conference of the Parties (COP2) of the Escaz\u00fa Agreement, an important point of discussion is the advancement of the Environmental Defenders Protection Implementation Plan. Our Latin American partner organisations host three side events you can join online.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Header photo: An environmental defender documenting a logging site in Madre de Dios, Peru. \u00a9 Tom Laffay<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The Escaz\u00fa Agreement<\/a> is a regional political treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean to improve access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. The full name of the treaty is \u201cRegional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean.\u201d The agreement went into force in 2021, and the first COP took place in April 2022. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Side event: challenges and opportunities for the Amazon<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Our Colombian partner FCDS<\/a> (Fundaci\u00f3n para la Conservaci\u00f3n y el Desarrollo Sostenible<\/em>) organises a side event on the challenges and opportunities for the protection of the Amazon in the light of the Escaz\u00fa Agreement. We work together with FCDS on our Forests for a Just Future<\/a> and Amazon rights in focus <\/a>programmes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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During the side event, a panel will discuss the implementation of the Escaz\u00fa Agreement and its challenges and opportunities, such as the lack of information on deforestation and its causes, and extractive projects and market conditions in the context of climate change, including the REDD+ mechanism. The panelists will focus on the situation in the Colombian, Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Date: Wednesday, 19 April<\/strong>
Time: 14:00 Argentinian time (GMT-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Register to watch online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Side event: environmental democracy and active citizenship in Peru<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Together with SPDA<\/a> (Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental<\/em>), we strengthen the protection system of environmental human rights defenders, women and men, in Madre de Dios in the Peruvian Amazon. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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During the COP2 to the Escaz\u00fa Agreement, SPDA will organise an event for participants to reflection on how, by strengthening environmental justice, we can contribute to effectively exercising environmental human rights and improve the situation of people defending these rights when the justice system is failing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Date: Thursday, 20 April<\/strong>
Time: 17:00 Argentinian time (GMT-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Register to watch online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Side event: gender guidelines for the Escaz\u00fa Agreement <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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On Friday, the final day of the COP, FARN<\/a> (Fundaci\u00f3n Ambiente y Recursos Naturales<\/em>) will host a side event on the Escaz\u00fa Agreement from a gender perspective. FARN is a partner of our Forest for a Just Future programme. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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While environmental conflicts increase, the role of women in defending their environmental and human rights becomes more apparent. This does not mean, however, that women are sufficiently included in decision-making and legal processes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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For this reason, this event seeks to deepen the dialogue on the implementation of the Escaz\u00fa Agreement from a gender perspective, with the specific objective to reflect on the work to be carried out by the agreement’s Committee to Support Implementation and Compliance. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Date: Friday, 21 April
Time: 17:00 Argentinian time (GMT-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Register to watch online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Mongabay: interview with Vanessa Torres<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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News platform Mongabay Latam interviewed Vanessa Torres, deputy director of Ambiente y Sociedad<\/a>, about the Escaz\u00fa Agreement. Ambiente y Sociedad is one of the Colombian civil society organisations that was part of the Alliance for the Escaz\u00fa Agreement, a coalition that advocated for Colombia to ratify the treaty for years. President Gustavo Petro signed the agreement in October 2022. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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But this important moment does not mark an end point. \u2018<\/strong>If citizens are not paying close attention to the implementation of the Escaz\u00fa Agreement, it will die,\u2019<\/strong> said Torres during her interview with Mongabay. The article is written in Spanish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Read the interview<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Forests for a Just Future<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Through the Forests for a Just Future programme, IUCN NL and partners contribute to the safeguarding of the rights of environmental and human rights activists. We started a capacity building project in which we inform mainly women in remote Amazon areas about their right to participate in environmental matters and what steps to take of this right is violated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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