IRI Colombia continues work through Escucha la Amazonia

Since December 2021, IRI Colombia has been actively working with Escucha la Amazonia, an alliance made up of recognized environmental, indigenous and academic organizations that have united and mobilized to position the Amazon in public debates so that the new Colombian government includes programmes and policies aimed at its protection in its National Development Plan. In support of the national advocacy strategy of the Alliance, IRI Colombia conducted an analysis of the government plan of presidential candidate Federico GutiĆ©rrez in order to prepare inputs for further meetings with the campaign teams and to prepare reports on the candidates’ proposals for El Espectador. The results of the analysis of the government programs of the candidates served as the basis for the article entitled “How environmental is the proposal of your candidate for the presidency of Colombia?” published in the newspaper El Espectador on May 23.As leader of the Alliance’s international advocacy strategy, IRI Colombia has been developing a series of meetings with a working team of the Episcopal Church in the United States, in order to analyze the different spaces that can be used to amplify the Alliance’s message internationally. With the support of the Episcopal Church, IRI-Colombia will participate in a parallel event within the framework of the UN High Level Political Forum on the Sustainable Development Goals to discuss the recommendations of Escucha la Amazonia in relation to the government plans of Gustavo Petro, the president elect who will be inaugurated on August 7 in the Colombian capital. Furthermore, a parallel virtual panel is being coordinated within the framework of the New York Climate Week with the same format and objectives. The Episcopal Church team includes Lynnaia Main, Episcopal Church representative to the United Nations; Rev Glenda McQueen, Partnership Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean; Rev Margaret Rose, deputy for ecumenical and interfaith collaboration; Rev David Copley, director of the Office of Mission Personnel; and Patricia Kisare, legislative representative for international policy in the Office of Government Relations.