EcoCitizen led a multicultural delegation and organized official events at the COP16 in Colombia
We reached the end of our participation in COP16, in Cali, Colombia, after more than 15 days full of bilaterals, events and participation in advocacy groups. The overall conclusion is that our participation exceeded all expectations.
Salvatore Coppola-Finegan led the EcoCitizen delegation in an intense agenda of meetings and events that allowed to consolidate existing partnerships as well as to build important new ties for the hard work ahead. As we know, this is the decade for implementation! All individuals, organizations, companies, academia, international organizations, media and decision makers must work to act on the socio-environmental challenges NOW.
Keeping the above in mind, we have been actively involved in the opening days of #COP16.
EcoCitizen as Academia & Research Observer at the Plenary Session of the High Level Segment of the UN CBD COP16ultural delegation and organized official events at the COP16 in Colombia
EcoCitizen was honored to be an accredited UN Observer organization at COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
During the High-Level Segment we listened to speeches by Colombian President Gustavo Petro and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, among other world leaders.
EcoCitizen supports your call for immediate action to address the various crises facing humanity, and is committed to being part of this change with a global vision, as a bridge between Europe and Latin America, with a clear commitment to applied scientific research.
This commitment for us is based on working hand in hand with impoverished communities and populations, and we always focus on the interconnections between climate, biodiversity and social crises.
Being able to coincide with Mrs. Epsy Campbell Barr, former Vice President and Chancellor of the Republic, outstanding Afro-Costa Rican leader and politician, in a space like this, was one of the highlights of our visit. We shared with her the importance of putting human rights first in any struggle, in this case the protection of biodiversity and the fight against climate change.
Mrs. Epsy has been an example of leadership in her work in front of populations that for centuries have been made vulnerable, work in which we join from our space for research and generation of data that allow decision makers to be more fair and understanding with the reality of the different affected communities.
EcoCitizen organized two official side events at the Blue Zone in collaboration with IERN, University of Oxford, on the theme “Integral Ecology to Reverse Biodiversity Loss.” These events featured very diverse perspectives from academics, experts, activists and religious leaders, each sharing how they have accompanied entire communities in protecting and restoring biodiversity in response to the universal, cross-cultural call of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’.
We thank our allies in the construction of these events: Oxford University; World Resources Institute; Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council; Buddhist Development Institute for Happiness and Peace; 30×30 Coalition Thailand; Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Holy See; National Secretariat for Social Pastoral; Caritas Colombiana; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali.
EcoCitizen was an active participant in the sessions of the Caucus of Academic and Research organizations
We demonstrate our commitment as an organization that belongs to the Research and Academia group of institutions by actively participating in the A&R Caucus meetings.
During the different sessions, our delegation contributed to the discussions on the impact that these organizations should have on the technical and political negotiations in the framework of the COPs. In addition, EcoCitizen contributed positively to the overall balance of the Caucus in two fundamental ways: firstly, by providing a delegation made up of participants mostly from the Global South, and secondly, a delegation composed mostly of women. Two areas in which the Caucus as a group recognized that it intends to strive in the future and which EcoCitizen pledged to support.
It was a pleasure to strengthen our partnerships with the A&R Caucus and the CBD Secretariat at this COP. We look forward to continuing to foster transdisciplinary and holistic collaborations that will bring about the transformations we really need to address humanity’s current challenges.
We held more than 20 bilateral meetings with institutions and colleagues who, like us, work from different fields to accelerate the implementation of processes to address the interconnected climate, natural and social crises.
We would like to thank all the friends and colleagues who shared with us, together we took full advantage of the learning spaces and exchange of ideas.
In order not to make this report longer, we would like to invite you to visit our Linkedin page to see in more detail the publications about our participation throughout the two weeks.
In conclusion, at this COP we were able to see that the complex challenge of biodiversity regeneration, as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation, must be tackled from all sides. We saw the potential for truly holistic approaches that include experts, scientists, academics, political leaders, religious structures, communities, activists and non-governmental organizations to effectively influence decisions and implement projects on the ground that have an impact on nature and people’s lives.
We return home with grateful hearts and minds. The work has just begun and we are ready for what’s next.
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