“This agreement represents a milestone on the road to a new relationship between the State and its inhabitants in environmental matters. and it requires the commitment of all and all”.
A year and a half following the Escazu Agreement was ratified and signed by various countries in Latin America and the Caribbean -in September 2020-, this Friday the government of Presidente Gabriel Boric took a step for Chile to support the document.
This is because, as he announced during his campaign to La Moneda, the President signed the bill that seeks to have the country join the pact. He did so in an activity held in the courtyard of Los Naranjos de Palacio and which was attended by various Ministers of State and figures linked to the environmental world.
Thus, the bill will enter Congress with “extreme urgency”, according to the spokesperson for the Government, Camila Vallejo. “The minister of the Segpres, Giorgio Jackson, has a tremendously important task there (…). We hope that it will be an expedited procedure so that we can have it as soon as possible, ”she said.
© Provided by La Tercera
President Gabriel Boric signed this Friday, together with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Antonia Urrejola, and Environment, Maisa Rojas, the bill to ratify the Escazú Agreement. Photo: Cristóbal Escobar / Agency One.
The history of Chile with Escazú has several chapters. Although the country was one of its promoters, along with Costa Rica, on September 22, 2020 -four days before the countries of the region ratified the pact– the Administration of Sebastian Pinera stated that they would not sign the document.
In the midst of objections from the opposition at the time and from different civil society actors who saw the pact as a possibility to improve environmental and human rights legislation, the Ministries of the Environment and Foreign Relations at the time provided a series of arguments to support their refusal.
Among them, they argued that it was “inconvenient for the country to sign the Escazú Agreement given the ambiguity and breadth of its terms, its eventual self-executability and the mandatory nature of its regulations that would prevail over internal environmental legislation, all of which will generate a growing judicialization of environmental proceduress and will raise a global picture of serious legal uncertainty”.
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Along the same lines, they reiterated that the pact might expose the country to international lawsuitswould introduce a series of undefined principles that would condition environmental legislation and that would imply changes in current legislation, generating uncertainty.
Now, a week following assuming the Presidency, the Boric government has opted to ratify the agreement, as promised. “We are going to fulfill our commitment to ratify the Escazú Treatywe are looking at agenda items to coordinate with the responsible ministries, but I can assure you that it will be during March, and therefore for the next COP 27 Chile will be entirely in Escazú”, the President had advanced last Tuesday in a meeting with foreign correspondents in Chile.
This is how this Friday, the announcement was finally made and Chile officially began the process to join Escazú. “I am clear that this has been a long-standing dream (…) today we are signing and fulfilling this commitment”Boric said. The President also alluded to a “delay” in completing this step and maintained that the course was “amended”.
“We have taken longer than necessary to sign this agreement, whose negotiation started and was co-led by Chile and Costa Rica; however, lately, for various reasons, we have not made progress. Today we change course and that is why I urge Congress to take a chance so that we pass this quickly, because life cannot waitr” expressed the head of state.
© Provided by La Tercera
President Gabriel Boric signed this Friday the bill to ratify the Escazú Agreement. Photo: Cristóbal Escobar / Agency One.
“You fighters for the defense of the environment, fighters for life, have taught us to persevere. And today we are advancing with the Escazú agreement. Tomorrow we will do it for the reunion of the peoples that inhabit the territory”, added the President.
Boric added that “This is the first binding agreement in the world regarding the protection of human rights defenders in environmental matters, in a region where this fight has already cost several lives”he added.
For its part, the Minister of the Environment, Maisa Rojas -who participated in the signing” He indicated that “our duty to move towards a fair ecological model is the most important task of this time.”
Along the same lines, he argued that “We are facing the worst ecological crisis in history and we need to face it together, we will not be successful alone.”
Due to the foregoing, he stated that “It is time to take decisive and transformative actions, where science and also the economy must be listened to, because the window of opportunity to face both the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis is rapidly closing. The costs of inaction are far greater than the costs of action.”
The Secretary of State closed by assuring that “the Escazú Agreement, the first and only environmental treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean emerges as a powerful tool for the change we yearn for”.
Now it will be the Congress that will have to decide whether or not to ratify the pact. However, yesterday the bench of deputies of National Renewal was opened to ratify the document.
Bancada RN opens to support Escazú: “We want our seal to be protecting the environment”
“What future can we leave to the next generations if we do nothing today? We have the responsibility to take action by improving institutions and being part of international agreements that allow us to make better environmental decisions., participation and access to fair processes. For that reason, we are open to studying the possibility of supporting the signing of the agreement”, affirmed the general secretary of the RN and deputy, Diego Schalper.
“The fears that were pointed out in the previous government are not true”
After the signing of the project, Ministers Vallejo, Rojas and Chancellor Antonia Urrejola participated in a live of Instagram where they addressed the issue and criticized the Piñera government for not having signed the pact.
The Minister of the Environment affirmed that the agreement “quite the opposite of giving uncertainty, it gives certainty, so it helps reduce socio-environmental conflict and will allow us, then, better development. I believe that no one was very convinced of the reasons why this was not signed in the previous government”.
For her part, Foreign Minister Urrejola indicated that “the figures prove it, 27 countries in the region have signed it, 9 have not, among which was Chile until today, and that clearly indicates that the fears that were pointed out in the previous government are not true”.
“When I talk regarding governments that signed this I am talking regarding countries like Brazil, Colombia and Mexico (…) Those countries signed it, not all of them have finished these ratification processes, because you have to go to Congress, there is indeed a debate, but I I think there is a super important issue that is that of sovereignty, which has been pointed out a lot,” he added.
In this sense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile explained that “the Escazú agreement speaks of a set of principles, one of which is the principle of sovereignty of each country over its natural resources, that is explicit. Nor is it that we are going to go to international courts regarding environmental conflicts, the agreement itself establishes mechanisms of the agreement itself, which is the conference party of the states parties. There is a conciliation committee, which is not punitive, to seek agreements when there are differences between the parties in the interpretation of the treaty. And eventually the Escazú agreement says, If there are states parties that have differences and by virtue of their own sovereignty decide to go to the International Court of Justice, well, that is also within the framework of the decision made by the states. It is a process of dialogue, that is democracy”.
What is Escazú?
The Escazú pact was initially promoted by Chile and Costa Rica, and its objective is to improve access to information, justice and public participation in environmental matters in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
In addition, the agreement seeks to protect various basic rights, such as access to environmental information (anyone can request it), public participation in environmental decision-making processes (to monitor possible projects that may have a negative impact on the environment), and access to environmental justice (which can be driven by any citizen).
Government will finally sign the Escazú Agreement: What does this environmental treaty consist of?
Meanwhile, among the main pillars of the agreement are guaranteeing the full and effective implementation of the Rights of Access to Environmental Information; promoting public participation in the decision-making process; in addition to promoting access to justice in environmental matters, as well as the creation of instruments that allow the protection and security of environmental defenders.