As part of its ongoing advocacy efforts, the Escucha la Amazonía alliance held a virtual workshop for journalists on March 26, aimed at reflecting on the importance of the Amazon region and providing journalists with the necessary context to help them understand and position the Amazon in their narratives within the framework of the 2026 electoral process.
“Although the region possesses ecosystemic integrity, it also has a diversity of dynamics, actors, and issues that require a highly nuanced analysis, depending on the specific area being examined,” explained Juan Felipe Suárez, technical coordinator of Escucha la Amazonía, an alliance of which IRI- Colombia is a member.
The workshop consisted of four modules, during which participants took a broad look at the ecological and sociocultural context of the Amazon, analyzed from the perspective of the three subregions that comprise it. They also analyzed the legislative landscape following the recent elections to the Congress of the Republic and the place the Amazon occupies on the parliamentary agenda and in the government proposals of the candidates for the presidency of the Republic for the 2026–2030 term.
Additionally, the workshop addressed issues such as curbing deforestation, the rise in mining, cross- border crimes, and the ever-increasing demand for critical minerals—some of the main structural challenges the next national government will face in ensuring the well-being of the Amazon, the integrity of its territory, the rights of its inhabitants, and, above all, preventing the region from reaching the point of no return.
Finally, the workshop included a session in which journalists were invited to reflect on the dynamics of media coverage of the biome, and new strategies were proposed for creating media products that promote and reinforce a narrative of the Amazon highlighting its bioclimatic importance and offering a respectful, diverse, and multicultural perspective on the region.
“The further to the right a presidential candidate is, the more their concerns regarding nature and the Amazon are associated with public order and security. The further to the left, the more these issues are linked to human rights, territorial governance, and social justice,” Juan Felipe Suárez, technical coordinator of the Escucha la Amazonía alliance.
