{"id":144861,"date":"2023-10-03T10:32:36","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T09:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/?p=144861"},"modified":"2025-05-06T15:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:15:11","slug":"why-is-it-important-for-amazon-giants-brazil-and-peru-to-ratify-the-escazu-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/story\/why-is-it-important-for-amazon-giants-brazil-and-peru-to-ratify-the-escazu-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is it important for Amazon giants Brazil and Peru to ratify the Escaz\u00fa Agreement?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It is a crucial time for the Amazon rainforest. Communities who have been part of the Amazon region for generations, are trying to defend their forest against (illegal) harmful activities, such as mining, cattle ranching, and logging. Deforestation of the Amazon threatens their way of life, decreases biodiversity, and increases climate change. The regional Escaz\u00fa Agreement enables an important opportunity to make a difference to the rights of environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean. But Brazil and Peru, together covering 73 percent of the Amazon territory, have not ratified the treaty yet.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Header photo: area of the Indigenous community Kotsimba in Madre de Dios, Peru<\/em>. \u00a9 Diego P\u00e9rez\/ SPDA<\/em><\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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The Escaz\u00fa Agreement<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The Escaz\u00fa Agreement is a binding political treaty<\/a> in Latin America and the Caribbean to improve access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matter. It is the first environmental agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean, but it is also one in a kind worldwide. As the world\u2019s first binding treaty with provisions on environmental and human rights activists, it is a ground-breaking instrument for the protection for nature and human rights. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The treaty went into force in 2021 and at this moment, 25 governments have signed. Out of them, 15 states have ratified the text: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Uruguay[1]<\/sup><\/a>UNTC. (Updated October 2023). Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean<\/a>.<\/span><\/span>