With the support of the Interfaith Initiative for Tropical Forests (IRI-Colombia), on August 18, a parliamentary bloc led by Miguel Ángel Rubio, a representative from Putumayo, presented a proposal to create the Ad Hoc Commission for the Protection of the Amazon to the Plenary and the Presiding Board of the House of Representatives.
Based on recognition of the natural and cultural diversity of the Colombian Amazon, as well as the urgent need to establish an ethical, inter-institutional, academic, and territorial dialogue to advance its protection, the creation of this Commission seeks to promote a national legislative agenda in support of the Colombian Amazon, the rights of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, local and rural communities, climate action, and the region’s sustainable development.
“Defending the Amazon is an issue we must begin to address as a civic responsibility, but legislation must also be crafted with science and the territory in mind,” said Blanca Lucía Echeverry, director of IRI-Colombia.
The introduction of this proposal is the result of an advocacy process that IRI-Colombia has been carrying out since January of this year with the then-candidates for Congress, and it began to take shape during IRI-Colombia’s Amazon Scientific Immersion Day, held last June in San José del Guaviare. Additionally, on August 14, members of Congress and the Initiative met to reflect on and discuss the scope of the Commission and its main objectives.
This initiative, which would be in effect during the 2026–2030 term, was endorsed by 21 members of Congress, including Senators Esmeralda Hernández, Mary Jurado Palomino, and Sandra Chindoy, and Representatives Orlando Rayo Acosta, Mónica Karina Bocanegra, María del Carmen Mayusa, Fernando Arias Cardona, Juan Pablo Duque, Diego Fernando Zambrano, Arnulfo Mina Garcés, and Óscar Espinosa.
Once approved, the next step will be to form the Commission’s executive committee and develop a work plan.
“What happens in a municipality in the Amazon affects the world. We understand that if we coordinate legislative work with science, indigenous communities, Afro-descendant communities, rural communities, and, in general, the entire society living in the Amazon region, we will achieve a functional commission that can move these projects forward,” said Representative Miguel Ángel Rubio.
