On the opening of the Latin America and Caribbean Pavilion at COP16 in Cali, CAF – Improvement Financial institution of Latin America and the Caribbean – introduced a USD 300 million program to preserve and restore the area’s key strategic ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The undertaking may even mobilse extra monetary assets and improve collaboration between native governments, the non-public sector, and civil society.
This system’s launch, attended by Colombia’s Vice President Francia Márquez, Brazil’s Minister of Racial Equality Anielle Franco, and CAF’s Government President Sergio Díaz-Granados, happened on the Latin America and Caribbean Pavilion at COP16, titled #BiodiversityUnitesUs. This area is open to governments, non-public sector representatives, scientific establishments, NGOs, native communities, and Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples from throughout the area.
“The eyes of the area and the world are on Cali. The agreements we attain, the partnerships we construct, and the actions we take will form the longer term. This USD 300 million is only the start, as we’ll provide a software for figuring out high-quality initiatives to channel grant and financing assets, encouraging new investments to guard biodiversity in our nations,” mentioned CAF’s Government President, Sergio Díaz-Granados.
In her remarks, Francia Márquez mentioned, “From right here, we ship a message of peace, that long-desired peace. We, the folks from this Pacific area, are honoured to welcome you. And it’s not simply in regards to the species; it’s additionally in regards to the folks—individuals who, regardless of having been on their knees, stand up and stroll. That is additionally a area that has suffered from armed battle and disproportionate violence.”
Anielle Franco, in flip, highlighted the Afro-descendant Peoples of the Americas program, a partnership constructed with Afro-rural communities to implement concrete actions to enhance the standard of life for our peoples, acknowledging the historic challenges and socio-environmental vulnerabilities confronted by Afro-descendant communities.
“Many individuals usually don’t perceive the aim of the paperwork we signal, resembling protocols of intent and memorandums of understanding. However these had been seeds we had been planting, and at this time, we see them flourishing. Brazil and Colombia are implementing this regional program to deal with racial and socio-environmental inequalities affecting these traditionally excluded and marginalised communities,” Franco mentioned.
As a precedent for this fund, in August 2024, CAF signed a USD 50 million credit score line with BBVA Colombia to finance native credit score operations involving conservation, restoration, regeneration, and sustainable use of strategic ecosystems in Colombia.
Extra not too long ago, in El Salvador, CAF participated alongside different companions within the largest debt-for-nature swap in historical past for the conservation of watersheds, significantly within the Lempa River area. The repurchase of greater than USD 1 billion in bonds will fund conservation efforts, water safety, and ecosystem restoration.
Latin America and Caribbean Pavilion at COP16
The Latin America and Caribbean Pavilion at COP16, organised by CAF, will spotlight the area’s potential to guide biodiversity conservation efforts, drive local weather motion with its lush ecosystems, recognise the worth of ancestral information, and promote the event of the blue economic system.
Through the two weeks of COP16, the pavilion will deal with key environmental points affecting the area, together with:
- Strategic Ecosystems and Revolutionary Financing: The most important ecosystems of Latin America and the Caribbean transcend borders, and their preservation requires better regional integration and a complete environmental imaginative and prescient. Defending the Cerrado in Brazil ensures sustainability within the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena area. The sustainability of the Mesoamerican Organic Hall is tied to the Andes.
- Science and Inclusion: The pavilion may even handle the position of science in fostering optimistic biodiversity outcomes. Collaboration between science, society, and public coverage is important to addressing the biodiversity disaster.
- Inclusion of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Communities: These communities are on the coronary heart of our actions and symbolise what we would like this area to signify—a spot of encounter and integration, the place all voices are heard within the seek for options.
- Sustainable Cities and Native Authorities Options: Greater than a dozen companions will host occasions right here, showcasing the immense worth of cooperation.
