At the beginning of March of this year, the Ministry of the Environment called a meeting with representatives of the 33 Regional Autonomous Corporations of the country, along with other entities of the National Environmental System (Sina) to prepare for the Biodiversity Summit (COP16). which Colombia will host between October 21 and November 1. From this meeting, which ended on good terms, several agreements and collective work actions emerged, as well as proposals to control deforestation in the country and restore strategic areas due to their biodiversity.
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Just one month later, in Bogotá, the CARs met again in a General Assembly, to define their agenda of topics to be made visible at the meeting. At that time, the president of the Board of Directors of Asocars and director of the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Tolima (Cortolima), Olga Lucía Alfonso Iannini, assured that they were advancing in the construction of a joint agenda to show how the country protects its biodiversity.
“The general conclusion is that we are going to participate in a united way, with our space in the development of COP16, as environmental authorities that we are, as a technical arm and arm in the territory of investments for preservation and conservation and, therefore of course, protection in terms of biodiversity”, Alfonso indicated at the time.
In Colombia there are 33 Regional Autonomous Corporations (CAR) that are responsible for compliance with environmental regulations in their territories.
Photo:Asocars
Additionally, the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Valle del Cauca (CVC), host corporation of the COP16 that will be held in Cali, assured that it is leading the assembly of its own exhibition stage with a capacity for 150 stands, where the companies will be shown to the world. and ventures that have incorporated good environmental, social and economic practices in their processes.
But just a couple of months later, the honeymoon between the Ministry of the Environment and the CARs over COP16 seems to have been damaged. This is after Alfonso’s statements made in recent days in which they claim to feel excluded.
‘The CARs feel distant from COP16’: Asocars
On June 21, from Ibagué, the director of Cortolima made a categorical call to the Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, to take the CARs into account in the organization and development of COP16.
“I send a message to the minister, as president of the Board of Directors of the Association of Regional Autonomous Corporations, that the corporations, being the technical and operational arm of the National Environmental System, are in the territory and we feel distant from COP16 ”, indicated during the Regional Meeting for the Update of the Biodiversity Plan.
Olga Lucía Alfonso Iannini, president of the Board of Directors of Asocars, during the Regional Meeting for the Update of the Biodiversity Plan.
Photo:Asocars
The official appreciated that the national government has opened the space for the CARs to participate in the summit with the installation of Green Businesses and the construction of the National Biodiversity Plan, but considered that the contribution of environmental authorities must go further, especially for the work they do in the territories.
“Corporations are the technical arm that permanently relates to and addresses the problems of the communities; that makes investments in restoration, recovery, conservation, administration and knowledge of natural resources. Our contribution is invaluable”Alfonso stated.
Consulted by EL TIEMPO, Marco Antonio Suarez Gutierrez, general director of the CVC, held a position similar to that of Alfonso, defending that the CARs are key in the development of the COP and that they must be integrated into the development of the meeting, like them. have been doing since Cali was chosen as the city that would host the summit.
“The CARs are a technical arm of Sina, therefore we are the first to provide results on biodiversity in the country. Therefore, it is not viable to separate corporations from the sustainable development processes that protect and promote COP16. Let us remember that CARs are biodiversity, we are life. Therefore, our participation is not only necessary but fundamental, to show the progress that our country has made in biodiversity and to be able to show the instruments that are available to fulfill the activities or commitments reached at COP16,” he said. Suarez.
It is not the first time that the CAR and Minister Muhamad confront each other
With this new discussion, in addition, tensions between Asocars and Minister Muhamad resurface, which in November 2023 had already clashed when the CAR reported being concerned about the alleged interference of the Government in the election of directors of the CARs.
Asocars assured at the time, through a statement, that its concern was based on “the interference of the National Government in the election processes of autonomous organizations such as the CAR, through the misinformation that has occurred with the media campaign carried out by the Minister of the Environment, where impartiality is not observed in the information provided to public opinion, since it only focuses on the aspects that, in the opinion of the Ministry, are contrary to the guiding criteria of the processes.”
The Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, and the former director of Asocars, Ramón Leal Leal.
Photo:Minenvironment. Asocars.
This complaint did not reach any point, beyond the noise generated in public opinion; and with the arrival of COP16 the CARs and the minister posed together again. But now, with these new statements, tension arises again.
For now, neither the Ministry of Environment nor Minister Muhammad have referred to the issue, however, with only 17 weeks to go until the start of COP16 in Cali and with time running out, with the CAR statements the issue has once again arisen among the country’s environmental stakeholders.
EDWIN CAICEDO
Environment and health journalist
@CaicedoUcros
