Colombia will elect its next president in just over a month. This comes at a time Colombia is facing huge climate and environmental challenges issues.
In 2021, Colombia saw unprecedented social mobilizations. This was triggered by a tax reform proposal that led to calls for greater protections of social and environmental leaders. Rural areas are being confronted with increasing logging, ranching, and other extractive activities in the post-peace era.
Eight candidates are running for the presidency in Colombia ahead of the elections on 29 May. If none of them are able to win an absolute majority, the first two candidates will be re-elected in a second round on June 19.
According to polls released on April 22By the Centro Nacional de Consultora. Gustavo Petro, a veteran leftist fronting Pacto Histrico coaltion and Federico Gutirrez (an independent leading the centre right Equipo por Colombia coalition) will likely go to a second stage. They are polling at 38% to 23.8%, each. They are followed closely by Rodolfo Herrndez (9.6%), Sergio Fajardo (7.2%).
Camilo Prieto, a renowned environmentalist who is also a professor at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogot, says that although candidates have offered a variety of ideas for the environment agenda, they have not provided any concrete proposals on how they would be implemented. He says the key challenges are to prioritise biodiversity and change the militaristic approach. [to environmental protection]Combat excessive cattle ranching as the main driver of tropical forest destruction.
Dilogo Chino heard from Manuel Rodrguez Becerra (19901994), environment minister under the presidency Csar Gaviria (19901994). He said that Petro and Fajardo were the only candidates to have made well-thought-out proposals along similar lines.
We examine the environmental proposals and leanings of the four top candidates ahead of Colombia’s crucial election.
Gustavo Petro
Pacto Histrico coaltion
Petro, leader of the left-wing Colombia Humana Party and a former mayor in Bogot, has made climate change one of his pillars. Campaign proposals. He proposes suspending oil exploration, accelerating the energy transition, and taking tougher action against the growing deforestation.
Andrs Felipe Peez, a member the Pacto Histrico, the poll-leading coalition from 20 left- and centre-left parties, told Dilogo Chino they will prioritise organising the country around the protection and strengthening of regional ecosystems and the promotion and development of the energy transition.
Petros proposes greater controls to prevent excessive cattle ranching. Pez explained that they are looking into the possibility of restricting the sale or commercialization of livestock products from deforested areas.
Pez asserts that energy is a bet towards a society that moves from extractivism to nature. Petro has been a good example in this area. CriticisedHe stated that he wanted to end oil exploration in the nation, but he didn’t clearly outline how he would do it in a country that relies heavily on oil exports.
Gustavo Petros’ pick of the most renowned environmentalists elsewhere Francia MrquezFor his running mat, the future vice-president demonstrated his growing commitment to environmental issues in all of his plans. Mrquez was awarded the 2018 Goldman Prize, which is often called the Nobel Prize for the Environment. Her tireless activism led to her leading campaigns against mining and fighting for women’s rights. One of her campaign slogans is “We are part of nature, and not owners of it.”
The value of ancestral knowledge is recognized as an asset in environmental conservation
Manuel Rodrguez Becerra believes that Petro’s proposals are ambitious and accurate. He recalls that Petro was Bogota’s mayor between 2012 and 2015. Similar structures were usedHowever, he was unable to implement all of the proposals. Petro This page was removedHe was removed from office in December 2013, and banned from holding public office for 15-years for alleged irregularities in reforming the city’s waste collection system. He was able to keep his position after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights suspended his dismissal as precautionary. The IACHR eventually agreed. ruled2020 in his favor, leaving the disqualification ineffective.
Petro’s third attempt at the presidency is in 2022. In 2018, he lost to incumbent Ivn Durque. He received only 9% in the vote in Colombia’s 2010 elections.
Federico Gutirrez
Equipo por Colombia coalition
Gutirrez is the leader in a coalition that includes five right-wing and centre-right parties. He is second in the polls, and is seen as providing continuity for the current government’s policies.
171,685
In 2020, Colombia saw the loss of 1.6 million hectares of forest.
In his proposed government planHe will promote alternative development paths, including green hydrogen and circular economy, through economic incentives. He will work to reduce Colombia’s annual deforestation rate from 171,000 hectares in 2020 (the last year for which data are available) to 54,000 by the end his four-year term. He says this will allow Colombia to reach its goal of zero deforestation in 2030. His plan also includes plans to further explore the global market for payment of environmental services (PES), which is an option for both indigenous and peasant communities that work in ecological restoration.
Gutirrez has stood firm for the eradication illegal mining and pledged to use military force to stop it. He also supports the current government in identifying Criminal networksProfit from illegal coca cultivation as those Primarily responsible for deforestation.
Sergio Fajardo
Coalicin Centro Esperanza
Fajardo is the greenest candidate, as he leads a coalition of progressive centre left parties in Colombia’s election campaign. He ProposalsThe country will increase its use of renewable energy, restore one million hectares forests, update the mining census, as well as base its development on an economy that is linked to value chains that preserve heritage and biodiversity.
Dilogo Chino was informed by the candidate, a former mayor from Medelln, that Colombia is the country with the highest biodiversity per square metre. This is why our government programme is built on this wealth. We propose multiple strategies to ensure that our development model is one of bioeconomy and biotechnology, growth, and green jobs.
He also stated that he hopes to draw on the participation and support of indigenous communities in this process. The value of ancestral knowledge is recognized as an asset to environmental conservation. He also plans to work on the National Environmental Zoning Plan. This plan categorises territory that is not open for development projects. It helps to better guide investment and increase the country’s PES programmes’ area by 300,000.
Luis Gilberto Murillo is Fajardo’s vice-presidential running partner. He was a former Minister for Environment under Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018). Murillo criticized Colombia’s mining model at a forum held at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot. He described it as a completely exploitive scheme where wealth is not distributed in the regions and communities.
Murillo also proposed strengthening voluntary markets for carbon, restricting livestock development, and channelling profits to communities. CloseThe 2016 peace agreements established the agricultural frontier and ended a half-century-long civil conflict.
Rodolfo Hernndez
Liga de Gobernantes Anticorrupcin
Hernndez, 76, has been focusing on clean-up politics in campaigns before the Colombian elections. A well-known construction businessman, Hernndez is an independent leader of a centerist anti-corruption alliance and was once mayor of Bucaramanga. He stated that he would meet with successful businessmen who are committed towards climate change and global warming in a recent pre-election debate.
He plans to create an environmentally friendly policy that will search for more energy options that will in the long-term eliminate dependence on the fossil extraction industry. Hernndez hasn’t yet specified how he will achieve this.
He will impose tougher sanctions on people who are guilty of ecological crimes. He will also strengthen the environmental authorities to allow them to exercise their functions with the authority, security, and resources that will allow them prosecute those responsible for deforestation and mining.
His campaign siteHernndez also includes environmental proposals such as promoting alternative energy sources, typifying environmental crimes within the penal code, and ratifying international treaties like the Nagoya Protocol or the Escaz Agreement. However, it doesn’t mention any details about their implementation. He also suggested that mining multinationals be forced to operate in Colombia in the same way they do in their home countries. Like other candidates, he proposed PES. This would include providing a basic income to forest protectors and paying local workers for their work in producing oxygen.