The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative participated in the “S.O.S. Amazonia” session, convened by the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Forests and Climate Change, in order to analyze the most recent data on deforestation and its consequences in the Colombian Amazon.
This space, held on May 9 and led by House Representative Julia Miranda and Senator Julio Estrada, was attended by delegates from government institutions such as the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), the Amazonian Institute of Scientific Research SINCHI and Corpoamazonia; civil society organizations such as the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS), Rainforest Foundation Norway and the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC), as well as representatives of the Universidad del Rosario and the Universidad de los Andes, among others.
The session sought to draw the attention of public opinion to the pressure exerted on the Amazon biome, generated mainly by the strong expansion of livestock and other extractive activities, which relentlessly affect this area of the country.
During the meeting, the urgency of taking measures at the national and regional level to articulate a strategy for the protection of the tropical forests of the Amazon region was also discussed, with the purpose of stopping this process of degradation that affects not only biodiversity, but also the most vulnerable communities.
Likewise, the need to immediately address forest conservation on the agenda of the peace talks, so that institutions can more easily access the affected areas, increase measures to control and monitor deforestation and guarantee the security of peasant and indigenous communities that inhabit the territory.
In this way, IRI-Colombia reinforces its commitment to the protection of the Amazon and joins the call to conserve the tropical forest and the urgency of acting in a comprehensive and organized manner to avoid the collapse of this natural system and the rapid deterioration to which it is exposed.
