The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, asked on Monday to seek alternatives to hydrocarbons, to protect the environment, during his participation in the Forum on Indigenous Issues, led by the United Nations (UN) at its headquarters in New York. .
Petro is on an official visit to the United States, where he plans to meet with President Joe Biden.
“The climate crisis that afflicts humanity has been one of the integral civilizational crises, which brings hunger, disease, as we have just experienced, brings economic stagnation and basically brings war and the crisis of humanity” Petro said in his speech, which lasted almost 20 minutes.
“The only way to overcome the climate crisis is to stop extracting oil, coal and gas,” he added.
The Colombian leftist leader highlighted the work of indigenous peoples in preserving the planet, as well as “their worldview and their permanent desire for balance with nature,” which he said are “supremely accurate and practical for today.”
He also emphasized the need to preserve the Amazon rainforest and assured that the international summit on the environment will be held in August, in Belém de Pará, Brazil.
“We have convened a summit of countries that have responsibility for the Amazon Rainforest —10 in total— to build a common program with the rest of the world to enable the flow of money needed to build a common heritage that allows revitalizing the natural border of the Amazon rainforest”, he added.
The activity on Monday began with a meeting between Petro and the president of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Darío Mejía Montalvo.
Petro is also scheduled to meet with the US Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, and will participate in a working meeting with the CEO of the Council of the Americas, Susan Segal.
White House spokeswoman Karina Jean-Pierre reported that at the Biden and Petro meeting they will discuss how the US and Colombia can continue to deepen their “solid bilateral relationship by advancing in areas of mutual national interest, such as economic cooperation and security.” .
Other topics on the agenda will be climate change, drug trafficking, the migration challenge, and human and labor rights in the region.
The meeting occurs at a time when the immigration issue and the fight against drug trafficking are positioned as two of the broadest crises in the Western Hemisphere.
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