With the purpose of strengthening the political advocacy processes in the Congress of the Republic to promote a legislative agenda in favor of the Amazon and its inhabitants, the Interreligious Initiative for Forests in Colombia has been carrying out a series of strategic dialogues with the candidates for the House of Representatives of the Amazonian departments. where the organization has installed 45 local chapters.
The main objectives of these meetings are to generate a bridge of direct dialogue with them to provide them with technical and ethical information on the protection of the Amazon and climate action, which contributes to public management and an informed exercise with a long-term vision of the constitutional mandate, and to promote their future link to the “Parliamentary Alliance for the Amazon 2026-2030”. led by IRI Colombia.
It is for this reason that, after meeting with several candidates from Caquetá in January, during the month of February, the Initiative held several bilateral meetings with candidates from Putumayo and their work teams, both in Mocoa and in Puerto Asís.
In the capital of the department, the IRI Colombia team met with candidates Mario Fernando Jamioy Cortes and Diego Zambrano, of the Putumayo también es Colombia party; Wilson Hernando Angulo Isaza and Yule Vianey Anzueta Tarache, of the Putumayo Green Pact; and Buanerges Rosero, from Putumayo, unites us. In Puerto Asís, Marvin Fernando Papamija Rodriguez; Leidy Yohana García Meléndez; and María Carlina Esterilla and Jhon Fredy Valencia, of La Fuerza de un Putumayo Unido.
“Colombia continues to lose tens of thousands of hectares of Amazon forest every year. It is not just about trees, but about the breakdown of ecological systems that sustain the country’s climate, water and food production,” said Blanca Lucía Echeverry, director of IRI Colombia.
During the meetings, the IRI team addressed the Amazon deforestation crisis and its direct implications for the country’s water, climate, food and territorial security; as well as the challenges for the protection of the Amazon in legislative matters.
He also made available to the candidates the experience of the organization in processes of political advocacy, interreligious dialogue and technical accompaniment to decision-makers. This with the purpose of strengthening the capacity of representatives to the House to make informed decisions for the protection and restoration of the Amazon biome, which face the challenges of climate action and integrate an ethical and plural vision.
Finally, the IRI Colombia team extended the invitation to the candidates to form the “Parliamentary Alliance for the Amazon 2026–2030”, which will function as a technical, ethical and plural space for congressmen who want to work in an informed way for the Amazon, and put on the table the possibility of creating a Permanent Table of National Articulation for the Amazon. that articulates Congress, science, indigenous peoples, territorial communities and strategic actors.
Read the full February edition of the IRIboletín here.
