In particular, on April 24, during COP3, the Special Session on public participation in the Environmental Impact Assessment was held, where Article 7 of the Escazú Agreement on “Public participation in environmental decision-making processes” was discussed. and its relationship with environmental impact assessments. This event was developed through a discussion in which the following participated:
- Valentina Durán, Executive Director of the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) of Chile and Pro Tempore President of the Latin American Network of Environmental Impact Assessment Systems (REDLASEIA)
- Claudia da Silva Barros, Director of Environmental Licensing at the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA)
- Bastión Pastén, Senior Lawyer at the World Bank
- Diana Suárez, Legal Advisor of the Peruvian Society of Environmental Law, and
- Ana María Zamora, Vice President of the Colombian Mining Association followed by a period of questions from the public.
In the afternoon of the same day, a technical visit was organized to the works of the new line 7 of the Santiago Metro, in order to appreciate how the construction works are carried out within the framework of environmental impact assessments.
Subsequently, on April 25, after COP3, the “III Ordinary Session of REDLASEIA” was held. REDLASEIA, formed in 2021, today has 10 environmental licensing institutions from the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
This session, co-organized with the World Bank, GIZ and BGR, was inaugurated by Carlos de Miguel, Officer in Charge of the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division of ECLAC, Valentina Durán, Executive Director of the SEA and Nicolás Maennling, Principal Advisor of the GIZ.
Members of the Network and representatives of international organizations participated in the event (Bastián Pasten and Valeska David for the World Bank and Mauricio Pereira for ECLAC) who shared their experiences, national cases and exchanged knowledge. Additionally, on this occasion, the REDLASEIA website was launched (https://redlaseia.org/).
On the same day, starting at 4:00 p.m., the Workshop “Environmental Democracy and Mining in Latin America and the Caribbean” was held, co-organized by the Division of Sustainable Development and Human Settlements of ECLAC and the International Ombudsperson Federation (FIO) and supported by GIZ.
This hybrid event had 12 in-person and 30 virtual participants, including representatives of ECLAC, GIZ and the Ombudsmen’s Offices and National Human Rights Institutes from: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia (Pro Tempore Presidency of FIO), Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru.
The objectives of the workshop were: i) To publicize the main contents of the Escazú Agreement and sustainable mining; ii) disseminate information on the situation of mining in protected areas in Colombia, and iii) share general elements on the study of environmental democracy and mining programmed as part of the collaboration between ECLAC and FIO.
On this occasion, a series of videos on cases of mining in protected areas and its relationship with human rights and community participation were shown, particularly examples from Colombia and Peru were made visible. In addition, Mr. Nelson Vives, Technical Secretary of the FIO, Mr. Pedro Callisaya, Ombudsman of Bolivia, Mr. Josué Manuel Gutiérrez, Ombudsman of Peru and Mr. Bolívar Rodríguez, Director of Environmental Affairs of the Ombudsman’s Office of Panama, shared their reflections and experiences on this matter, highlighting the opportunities and challenges faced by their respective countries and recognizing the importance of international instances of exchange and discussion.
Finally, the Vice Ombudsman of Colombia, Mr. Luis Andrés Fajardo, presented the study “Situation of human rights of the Colombian mining population: making visible the face of the illegal mining economy.”
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