Murdered environmentalists: Escazú accord enters into force to end killings of environmentalists in Latin America

Berta Cáceres, Isidro Baldenegro, Cristina Bautista. Paulo Paulino Guajajara, Yolanda Maturana, Homero Gómez. The gruesome and long list of murdered environmental leaders in Latin America has forced the region to pass a treaty that, for the first time, obliges them to protect them. After years of negotiations and despite the absence of important countries like Colombia, Brazil or Chile, the Escazú agreement entered into force on Thursday.

The treaty has the potential to reverse the spiral of violence against environmentalists that has made Latin America the deadliest region in the world for them. But it also risks becoming a dead letter if the 12 countries that have ratified it, including Argentina and Mexico, do not take the necessary measures to implement it. If this is the case, fears Mexican conservationist Leydy Pech, this day will be a simple photograph to remember.

“The occupation of the territories of indigenous peoples arouses many interests. We cannot say: the agreement is already in place and my problem is solved. We must work to make this a reality, ”said this courageous Mayan beekeeper, who was awarded the Goldman Prize last year, the Nobel Prize for the environment. Pech has experienced firsthand what it is like to have treaties and laws on their side that are violated with impunity.

Its fight to stop Monsanto’s GM soybean plantation in Campeche won an unprecedented court victory in 2015, which led to the agrochemical giant’s contracts being canceled in seven states across the country. However, these types of crops continue to be cultivated illegally with their communities. “What’s missing? Why are they continuing to sow? Where are these gaps?” He wonders. “The same could happen with the Escazú Accord.”

In one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, full of socio-environmental problems, Escazú faces a major challenge. The text seeks not only to protect environmental defenders, but to reduce conflicts by requiring private companies and governments to allow access to information and public participation in any project likely to have an impact. on the environment.

Although the road to its implementation is difficult, Pech and the civil society organizations that have promoted the treaty applaud its entry into force. “It’s an incomplete celebration, under construction, but the important thing is that it happens, because it could well be that nothing has been celebrated,” says Astrid Puentes, co-director of the Inter-American Association for the Defense of the Environment. (AIDA).

The deal began to take shape in 2012 and negotiations lasted six years. Puentes recalls that the clause requiring the protection of environmentalists was on the verge of not being included in the text due to the reluctance of certain countries. However, outrage over the murder of Berta Cáceres in Honduras created the pressure for her to join. The winding path to entry into force continued with ratifications at congresses.

“There has been a whole initiative at the regional level of the industrial and private sectors to create noise. Many lies have been told about the Escazú Accord, such as that it includes new rights that will hinder development, ”he laments. This has happened in cases as striking as those of Chile, Peru and Costa Rica, which have gone from the status of promoters of the treaty to its non-ratification. In fact, of the 24 countries that have signed Escazú, only 12 have approved it at their congresses.

Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), acknowledges that there is “a fear among some businesses in the region” about the agreement. “But they shouldn’t have it, because a better economy is built with transparency and information for the population. A project has better performance if it is carried out with the agreement of the communities ”.

Among the countries that have not yet joined the pact, stand out Colombia and Brazil, which are precisely at the top of the list of killings of environmentalists in the region. Bárcena hopes that the entry into force of the text is a “call” that will encourage more countries to ratify it and obtain the necessary strength to end the tragedy facing environmental leaders in Latin America.

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