Argentina will host the second meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Escazú Agreement

The Second meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 2) of the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean -known as the Escazú Agreement- will take place from April 19 to 21 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This was agreed upon by José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) -the United Nations regional body that exercises the Secretariat of the Agreement- and Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina, through the signing of an agreement confirming that country as the venue for COP 2. Both officials signed the agreement on Saturday, March 25, within the framework of the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, held in the Dominican Republic.

At COP 2 of the Escazú Agreement, which is extraordinary, authorities and official representatives of the countries that are already part of the first environmental treaty in the region will elect the first members of the Committee to Support the Application and Compliance of the treaty and they will know any other matter that the Parties decide. They will also welcome the new States Parties since COP 1: Belize, Chile and Grenada.

Prior to the meeting, the Board of Directors of the Agreement – made up of Uruguay in the Presidency and Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Mexico and Saint Lucia in the Vice Presidencies – prepared a numbered list of ten candidates for the Enforcement and Compliance Support Committee, which will be presented on the second day of the conference (April 20). Said list is made up of five men and five women, of ten nationalities from countries in Annex 1 of the Agreement. There are three representatives from Central America and Mexico, three from the English-speaking Caribbean and four from South America. From the numbered list, the COP will select the seven members of the Committee during the meeting in Buenos Aires.

The conference will be held in person in the halls of the Hotel Libertador in the Argentine capital, and will have a series of parallel events that will be held completely virtual. It will be inaugurated on Wednesday, April 19, at 6:00 p.m. (Buenos Aires time, Argentina, UTC -3) at the Kirchner Cultural Center (CCK) by authorities from ECLAC, from the Government of Argentina -host country that holds a of the vice-presidencies of the Board of Directors of the Agreement- and other high authorities and representatives of the public.

On the second day (April 20), in addition to the presentation of the numbered list of candidates to the Enforcement and Compliance Support Committee by the Board of Directors, there will be a Special Session entitled Comparative experiences of support bodies for the application and compliance. The Regional Dialogue will also be held: Strengthening of capacities for national implementation.

Meanwhile, on April 21, two Special Sessions will be held: one on follow-up on Decision I/6 on human rights defenders in environmental matters, and another on follow-up on Decision I/4 on financial arrangements. and report of the Voluntary Contributions Fund. In addition, the election of the members of the Support Committee for Application and Compliance will be held, and the decisions approved by COP 2 will be agreed upon.

Various official virtual side events will take place within the framework of the conference between April 19 and 21, details of which will be available on the meeting website.

The holding of this second extraordinary meeting of the COP of the Escazú Agreement in Argentina was agreed in Decision I/5 of the document “approved decisions”, which was adopted at the end of COP 1 held at the ECLAC headquarters in Santiago de Chile in April 2022. According to the text, the ordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties will be held at least every two years, unless the Parties decide otherwise, and “extraordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties shall be held when deemed necessary, in accordance with paragraph 3 of article 15 of the Agreement and rule III of the rules of procedure of the Conference.” The second ordinary meeting is expected to take place in April 2024 in a State Party yet to be defined.

So far, the Escazú Agreement has been signed by 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and has 15 States Parties. The latter are: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Grenada, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Uruguay.

The Agreement was adopted in Escazú, Costa Rica, on March 4, 2018 and entered into force on April 22, 2021. The 24 countries that have signed it may proceed to deposit their ratification instruments at any time at the central headquarters of the United Nations in New York. Countries that did not sign it within the first stipulated period (between September 27, 2018 and September 26, 2020) can become a Party through accession (one-step procedure without the need for signature). Instruments of accession have the same requirements and legal effects as ratification.

The complete program of COP 2 of the Escazú Agreement is available on the special website of the meeting: https://acuerdodeescazu.cepal.org/cop2/es

Journalists and press representatives who wish to cover the event in person are requested to register using this form: https://forms.gle/WGRg9rUUZf8MMba3A

registration for participants (authorities, official delegations, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, civil society representatives, etc.) is independent of the press registry and is also available on the event website.

That: Second (extraordinary) meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Escazú Agreement (COP 2).

When: Wednesday April 19 to Friday April 21, 2023.

Where: Hotel Libertador, Avenida Cordoba 690, Buenos Aires 1054, Argentina.

Inauguration (Wednesday, April 19, 6:00 p.m.): Kirchner Cultural Center, Sarmiento 151, C1041 CABA.

For inquiries related to journalistic coverage of the event, contact:

• In Santiago de Chile, ECLAC Public Information Unit. Email: [email protected]; Telephone: (56) 22210 2040.