Latin American Mayors Sign Declaration to Make Biodiversity a Central Part of Cities

Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, and in the coming years, its cities must integrate natural resources into their urban plans to face the challenges of climate change, promote productivity and modernize infrastructure.

This is one of the main conclusions of the Biodivercities event, organized by CAF—development bank of Latin America—and the Mayor’s Office of Barranquilla, in which a declaration was signed to promote integration of biodiversity in the cities of the region. The cities that signed this declaration were: Barranquilla (Colombia), Córdoba (Argentina), Lima (Peru), Luján (Argentina), Maldonado (Uruguay), Niterói (Brazil), Timbiquí (Colombia), Ushuaia (Argentina).

CAF executive president Sergio Díaz-Granados kicked off the conversation by describing the panorama of urban growth and the importance of environmental conservation as the focus of cities’ actions: “Latin  America and the Caribbean is today the second most urbanized region in the world, after North America. The urbanization rate was 41% in 1950 and rose to 80% by 2015. Apart from this megatrend, poverty, unemployment, the effects of climate change and environmental pollution are some of the common problems in our cities, which impose on local governments an increasingly complex agenda on their path to development< span class="x_s8">".

Díaz-Granados also noted thatwithout the right policies, these negative effects will be magnified, and therefore, it is essential to establish growth plans that prioritize harmony between orderly urbanization and respect for biodiversity. 

The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Developmentof Colombia, Carlos Correa, described the " biodivercities" as cities "that put<> biodiversity, nature and connection with the human being at the heart of their development. It is built first with people and then,, based on that, a long-term model is built with natural resources at its heart: water, air, trees, soil. Then, a new life and business model is created". 

In this sense, the mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo, called for cities to set the pace of the transformation that the planet needs, and assured that “our main objective must be the conservation of the environment, of our natural beauties, without losing sight of that path and that momentum to reduce carbon emissions. This is a call to action to follow our example, to shame the rest of the world into taking the same steps we are taking.”

The event included three discussions, featuring mayors of different cities in the region, in an exercise of knowledge transfer and reflection on the measures that local governments can implement today to bring about transformation in the future. 

Neila Yadira Anú, mayor of Timbiquí (Cauca) was one of the panelists. Anú said that in the municipality, they are working to reinforce their productive chain based on sustainability. "This is how we have supported important ventures, such as the coconut processing plant, because after Tumaco, my municipality is the largest producer of that fruit. Thus, we seek to expand the potential of our territory, to go hand in hand with green growth,” she noted.

After the presentation of success stories at the local level in different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, which show that sustainability-based development creates more jobs, prosperity and equality, the mayors signed the joint declaration for the Biodivercities, which outlines a roadmap that integrates economic growth and respect for the most valuable resource of the region: biodiversity.