22/10/2024
The team of four European projects implemented by FIIAPP will defend at COP16 the need for cooperation between public administrations to share solutions to this global challenge
Spanish institutions (Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge -MITECO- and FIIAPP), Ibero-American institutions (Ibero-American General Secretariat -SEGIB-) and Colombian institutions (Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development) have joined forces to re-launch this network, which operated between 2006 and 2008, taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16).
‘The exchange of experiences and dialogue on challenges, successes and mistakes are essential to design and implement better and more effective public policies. Especially in the case of problems such as biodiversity loss, which have a regional, if not planetary, dimension and complexity. This will be the main objective of the Ibero-American Network of Biodiversity Directors,’ says Almudena Barrio, coordinator of the European Union’s Euroclima Programme at FIIAPP.
‘During the first stage of the network, the dangers of climate change and biodiversity loss were already worrying, but they had not reached the critical dimension in social awareness that is clear today. The lessons learned in these years and this clear sense of emergency will allow the network to play a fundamental role in the design of coherent and aligned national and regional biodiversity conservation policies,’ says Barrio.
The network joins other public policy coordination and cooperation networks in the area of environmental protection and the fight against climate change that have been operating within the Ibero-American community of countries: the Conference of Ibero-American Water Directorates and Authorities (CODIA), the Ibero-American Network of Climate Change Offices (RIOCC) and the Conference of Ibero-American National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (CIMHET).
FIIAPP, through the European project COPOLAD III, will present ‘The Silent Destruction’, a report on the environmental impacts of the production and trafficking of illegal drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the framework of an event on drugs and the environment.
Its content offers a strategic perspective that analyses and proposes alternatives to avoid, reduce or compensate for the environmental impacts of drug trafficking and the State’s measures to combat it.
Through the AL-INVEST Verde programme, FIIAPP cooperates for the implementation of the European Regulation on Deforestation and Forest Degradation Free Products (EUDR) in the coffee, cocoa and (beef) meat chains in Latin America. This regulation requires ensuring that sustainable practices have been followed throughout the production chain and therefore exports of these products to Europe have not contributed to deforestation and forest degradation.
At COP16, AL-INVEST Verde is organising three side events related to the above-mentioned chains and their interaction with ecosystems, their contribution to the protection of forests and the promotion of sustainability in areas of high biodiversity.
FIIAPP, through the Amazonía+ Programme, collaborates at regional, national and sub-national levels in the fight against deforestation, degradation and forest fires in the Amazon basin. In this context, during COP16 it is organising two side events in the EU pavilion:
–The Amazon managed from within: actions by Amazonian subnational governments and local authorities for the conservation and sustainable use of the Amazon biome. In order to respond to the so-called ‘twin crises’ – biodiversity loss and global warming – action at different scales of government is essential, with the design and implementation of sub-national actions and policies being of particular importance. At this event, Amazonian authorities will share the ‘actions for biodiversity’ they are developing with decision-makers and the general public. These actions will emphasise the creation of new forest economies that simultaneously contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, the protection of tropical forests and the well-being of Amazonian populations.
–Transition to integrated fire management in the Amazon Basin: In an effort to address the challenges of forest fires in the Amazon Basin, FIIAPP is promoting an event to address Integrated Fire Management (IFM) at regional, national and local scales. This approach seeks to manage forest fires in a sustainable and effective manner, considering not only prevention and control, but also the biological, environmental and social needs of indigenous communities and incorporating traditional knowledge into management strategies.
