Covenant of Mayors participates in the 2023 First In-Person Session of the Pan-Amazonian Cities Forum (FCPA)
May 12, 2023. Florencia, Colombia. The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM), funded by the European Union, participated in the first in-person session of the Pan-Amazonian Cities Forum (FCPA) in 2023. Between May 11 and 12, representatives from municipalities in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil gathered in the city of Florencia (Colombia) to advance the climate fight. Florencia is the most populous city in the Colombian Amazon, and this year it hosted the forum, just one year after joining the Covenant.
The objectives of this session were to learn about and make visible conservation experiences and nature-based solutions in the Pan-Amazon region and opportunities for local governments within the global biodiversity framework. It aimed to promote the exchange of experiences among Amazonian cities and facilitate engagement with regional and international biodiversity and climate change agendas.
During the opening of the meeting, Mayor Luis Antonio Ruiz of the municipality of Florencia announced that, as part of Colombia’s national strategy – implemented by ICLEI, the Colombian Federation of Municipalities, and the Colombian Association of Capital Cities – they will begin working on the development of the Climate Action Plan and the Greenhouse Gas Inventory for the city. The mayor highlighted that last year was his first participation in the Forum, in the Colombian city of Leticia, and a year later, his city is beginning to concretize its technical work to address climate change.
The Pact’s technical advisor, Belén Jiménez, presented the project at the “Conservation Measures in Pan-Amazonian Cities” dialogue table and explained some of the benefits of being part of this global commitment. During the discussion, Pan-Amazonian cities talked about the experiences and initiatives they are developing to preserve biodiversity in their urban environments. The session focused on understanding that Amazonian cities are also territories that must be preserved, as they are closely linked to the challenges of the Amazon rural context, with two-thirds of the Amazon’s population living in urban centers.
“GCoM is a local climate diplomacy project, and in this forum, we seek the exchange of best practices among Amazonian cities that share challenges and topics of interest that have been deepening since last year’s forum: the need for alternative energy sources, the fight against deforestation, strengthening technical knowledge in municipalities. We believe that Amazonian cities have much to contribute to the climate change agenda, and the Covenant is a commitment that seeks to place the voices of Amazonian local governments at the center of the regional and international debate,” said Jiménez.
For representatives from the Ministry of Environment of Colombia, Francisco Rodríguez and Mario Orlando López, the territorial agenda of Amazonian countries has progressed a lot, but for cities, it is essential to take action on climate change. “There are cross-cutting issues in the cities participating in this forum: it is important to think about urbanization from another paradigm of well-being in cities. How do we give back to nature what it gives us? That is the focus of the discussion now in our cities. We have much to learn from small cities; they have that relationship with nature, and that’s where we need to start learning,” said Rodríguez.
Sérgio Brazão, Special Secretary for Climate Change of Belém (Brazil), announced the importance for this Amazonian city to host the next COP 30. He also called for the protection of the biomes of the countries that are part of the Amazon. “Our united voice at COP 30 will draw attention to our biome. We live in a huge and very important biome, and if its conditions change, if there is deforestation and devastation, it will affect not only the lives of the population but also other environments in South America. That’s why it’s important that all voices from the Amazon are together,” he emphasized.
The FCPA was created in 2020 to strengthen the representativeness and regional and international advocacy capacity of local governments in the Amazon region. It is a space that promotes the exchange of experiences and decentralized regional cooperation, especially regarding initiatives for sustainable urban and territorial development.
Adherence to the Covenant:
During the event, the municipalities of Solita and Belén de los Andaquies (Colombia) and the city of Huánuco in Peru joined the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), which joined the Covenant last year, participated for the first time in the FCPA, becoming the first Bolivian city to attend the meeting.
