Chile Calls for Continental Cooperation Against Climate Change

Chilean President Gabriel Boric today called for cooperation between Latin American and Caribbean countries to deal with the negative effects of climate change.

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“With our Latin American brothers, we are going to work to face the climate crisis caused by the action of man with criteria of climate justice,” said the president in the opening speech of the first summit of the Escazú Agreement, based in this capital.

He pointed out that cooperation goes beyond individual responsibility and the political discourse of each country.

“We have a responsibility that we must take on, and a responsibility that is not possible to address only within nation-state frameworks, and I think that is very important,” he insisted.

"Either we save ourselves together or we sink separately, and I believe that the Escazú agreement points to the idea of ​​saving us together, of working together,” he emphasized in his speech.

The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as Escazú, is a treaty whose objective is the protection of those who work for the defense and conservation of the environment.

We know that there is no environmental justice, he pointed out, without guarantees for the protection and work of environmental defenders, who “experience firsthand how the devastation of systems negatively affects the life systems of entire communities.”

Chile promoted the treaty in its beginnings, but former president Piñera (2018-2022) did not ratify the Agreement during his second administration. Ratification of the agreement did not happen till March, when Boric signed a bill to validate the country’s participation that still needs approval by the National Congress (bicameral parliament).

Therefore, the South American country only participates in the summit as host and observer, roles that the president hopes will change soon with the conversion to a state party.

The meeting in Santiago de Chile will be in session until next Friday at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, with the aim of reviewing the financial measures for the implementation of the pact, its operation and strategies.