21/02/2020
The director of the programme explains the efforts to face climate change with indigenous peoples and with a gender perspective
Climate change from the perspective of the students of the Educational Unit of Leibnitz, Quito, Ecuador
The new decade has great challenges ahead. The climate emergency or pressing inequalities are scourges that compromise the sustainability and development of societies. In response to this, the 2030 Agenda defines sustainable development goals as a roadmap for the future of humanity and the planet.
An essential challenge for institutions is the defined goal of materializing the fight against social and environmental emergencies in specific actions and public policies. A challenge that FIIAPP assumes through the management of projects that promote knowledge so that it is transformative, so that it translates into changes in policies and institutions that improve the life of citizens.
One of these programmes is EUROCLIMA+. As its name suggests, it is a programme funded by the European Union that works in Latin America so that the region adapts to the new climate reality and mitigates its consequences.
After three years of work, this 2020 programme aims to consolidate a new approach based on the most direct dialogue with the 18 Latin American countries on which the programme works. According to the EUROCLIMA+ director, Cecilia Castillo: ‘With this approach, countries’ needs are identified and prioritized with respect to the implementation of their climate commitments (Nationally Determined Contributions)’.
This approach comes after country tables were successfully held in Honduras, Paraguay, Ecuador and Cuba in 2019. A dialogue methodology, developed by FIIAPP, that is being promoted this year in other Latin American countries. In addition, Castillo emphasizes as a mandatory reference for EUROCLIMA+ the EuropeanGreen Deal, in which the continent is set to accelerate the ecological transition towards a neutral economy in terms of CO2 emissions by 2050.
In this context, among the strategic lines that FIIAPP promotes in the framework of the EUROCLIMA+ programme, we can highlight ‘the action agenda for climate empowerment, the participation of indigenous peoples in the design of climate policies and the mainstreaming of the gender approach in adaptation and mitigation actions to climate change’, explains Castillo.
In turn, the adaptation agenda will continue to be prioritized, “because it is key for the most vulnerable countries in the region and is neglected by the cooperators, who are more focused on mitigation,” says Castillo.
This is also, according to Castillo, a key year for Spain’s positioning in the EU framework, as a pioneer in incorporating a fair transition strategy in its Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. “This ambitious initiative could be capitalized and exported to the Latin American region, where the challenges of inequality and lack of social cohesion are so pressing,” she concludes.
