Joint Action to Promote Latin America and the Caribbean’s First Environmental Treaty

By Estudio Chaloupka

The first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 1) to the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean – known as the Escazú Agreement – was held at Santiago, Chile, with a call by the States Parties and other nations that are in the process of ratification or accession, to foster joint action and multilateralism to give fresh impetus to the region’s first environmental treaty, and thereby move forward on environmental protection and the social inclusion and economic development of all its inhabitants.

The meeting – where participants reviewed progress on the Agreement’s implementation and move ahead on making it operational – was officially inaugurated by the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, at a ceremony that also featured the participation of Cecilia Nicolini, State Secretary for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation of Argentina.

Nicolini indicated that what has been enshrined in the Escazú Agreement distills the region’s ambitions, priorities and particularities. “In Argentina we understand Escazú as a commitment to multilateralism, a commitment to South-South cooperation for enhancing our institutional capacities amid a global context of uncertainty and imbalances,” she affirmed.

The elected representatives of the public, Andrea Sanhueza and Karetta Crooks-Charles, stressed the importance of the Escazú Agreement as a strategic tool that States will implement so that indigenous peoples, the private sector and citizens in general can participate in decision-making on any environmental issue and its implementation. They also noted that the Agreement has the ability to protect the environment, protect environmental defenders, and safeguard a healthy environment for present and future generations.

The first day of COP1 of the Escazú Agreement held a panel on the national actions taken by the 12 States Parties (Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Uruguay) as well as other countries, and on the activities carried out by the Secretariat (ECLAC). Furthermore, a special session was held on the effective implementation of the Escazú Agreement and greater cooperation, in which representatives of international and intergovernmental organizations explained the Agreement’s relevance for the region.