Environmental dimension; central topic from the Covid-19 recovery process

The environment ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean signed the Bridgetown Declaration (February 2021), with which they commit to integrate the environmental dimension at the center of the COVID-19 recovery plans, Gustavo Copelmayer reported. It is about promoting a reactivation based on social inclusion, low carbon economies, conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.

Gustavo Copelmayer recalls that at the XXII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean, a set of decisions were agreed as an Action Plan to promote the restoration of ecosystems, a Circular Economy coalition, an Integrated system of Environmental Information and the update of the Program for the small island developing States of the Caribbean, with the objective of promoting a green recovery.

At the forum organized by the Government of Barbados and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the ministers considered that economic, fiscal, financial and investment packages for recovery should stimulate efforts for sustainable development and thus meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Post-2020 Global Framework for Biodiversity, says Gustavo Copelmayer.

It is important to note that to reduce the risk of future pandemics, Latin America and the Caribbean need to improve knowledge of the links between environmental degradation and human health.