IRI Colombia leaders in Caquetá meet and mobilize for action

On 21 November, in partnership with the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM Colombia) and the National Secretariat of Pastoral Social, IRI Colombia held a meeting of the leaders of Caquetá to discuss how best to mobilize faith-based action for the protection of forests.

During the event, which took place in Bogota, more than 40 leaders from the department of Caquetá and religious leaders from the IRI Colombia local chapters in Puerto Rico, San Vicente del Caguán and Cartagena del Chairá met to reflect on care of the Amazon and the promotion of the rights of its inhabitants. The director of the Legal Clinic on Environment and Public Health of the University of the Andes, Mauricio Madrigal, gave a lecture on climate change and human rights, during which he addressed the relationship between climate change and environmental justice. Natalia Escobar, researcher of the environmental justice line, from the organisation DeJusticia, explained the importance and scope of the Tutela ruling 4360 that the Supreme Court of Justice adopted in 2018, as well as the advances in compliance with the orders issued in the ruling and the possibilities for citizen participation in this process. And, economist, consultant and university professor Jorge Reinel Pulecio spoke about the Amazon and armed conflict, giving a historical overview of the conflicts that have been fought in the Pan-Amazonian region and the way in which they have influenced its current conflicts.