The Congress ratified this Tuesday, May 31, Chile’s adherence to the Escazú agreement, a regional treaty that entered into force in 2021 and that promotes the defense of environmentalists, environmental rights and indigenous peoples of Latin America.
With 31 votes in favor, three against and 11 abstentions, the Senate approved Chile’s adherence to this agreement that guarantees access to information and justice, as well as public participation in environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, signed already by 25 countries and ratified by 13, including Chile.
(It may interest you: 5 barriers stop the action of Colombians in favor of the environment).
“I want to say that this is a historic vote. As the government and representation of the state of Chile we are happy, we believe that the ratification is indeed a historic fact because Chile returns strongly to multilateralism“, said Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola, after the vote.
On March 18 last -days after assuming the government-, leftist President Gabriel Boric signed the agreement, fulfilling his campaign promise to bring the country into this environmental treatyand then sent it to the Chamber of Deputies where it was approved.
The agreement introduces specific provisions to protect the rights of defenders of nature in Latin America and the Caribbean, where in 2020 “three out of four murders” of environmentalists in the world, according to the NGO Global Witness.
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The Escazú agreement, the first of its kind, also contemplates the protection of biodiversity at a time when countries like Chile are reviewing their development modelfacing serious problems such as a prolonged drought and other shared challenges in a region that is experiencing serious consequences due to climate change.
“I want to insist that this is a cooperation agreement between States, a solidarity cooperation agreement in the face of a serious climate and environmental crisis and in the face of the serious situation of human rights defenders.“Urrejola pointed out.
Solve the climate crisis together
On April 20, the members of the Escazú Agreement met for the first time at the Santiago headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a technical agency of the United Nations, to design solutions to face the crisis. climate hitting the region.
“No one can solve the climate crisis alone or alone. Here, either we solve the crisis together or we simply do not leave our sons and daughters a planet that is habitable“, added this Tuesday Maisa Rojas, Minister of the Environment of Chile.
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In 2014, representatives from 24 countries met in Santiago to negotiate the creation of the treaty. Chile and Costa Rica led a commission to promote it and in 2018 it was adopted in the city of Escazú in Costa Rica. It finally entered into force in April 2021. But Chile did not sign the agreement.
The then conservative president Sebastián Piñera, whose government period was from 2018 to 2022, considered him ambiguous and imprecise in the obligations. The Piñera government also argued that it exposed the country to possible international lawsuits for environmental reasons, and opened the door for Bolivia, which claims an outlet to the sea from Chile, to be able to use the treaty to vindicate this request.
AFP
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