Castillo’s first 100 days and COP 26 on climate change

By: César Gamboa Balbín, Executive Director of Law, Environment and Natural Resources – DAR

There are no course changes. That could define Castillo’s government. It is very difficult to judge him by the polarization with the Congress of the Republic, for which the Government is also responsible, but the idea of ​​a sustainable reactivation is not part of his agenda.

This should not surprise us, since the environmental agenda was not part of his Government Plan, nor did it appear in the electoral debates of the second round. Castillo arrived with a traditional redistributive vision, possibly that is why he will not attend the COP 26 on Climate Change that is being held in Glasgow, and although it may be important, from a symbolic point of view, to attend; It ends up being a distraction for the public that a lot is said and little is carried out at the COP, since it is often a fair of proclamations, some less transcendent than others, since we all know that the Paris Agreement (2015) has been a failure against global warming and, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, we will not be able to reduce the 2 ° C temperature by 2040.

In this regard, the maximum commitment expressed by this Government is to say that it will declare the country in a climate emergency, but what is required are concrete, clear and verifiable actions. For example, how are we going to reduce the 200 thousand hectares deforested last year, the highest figure in 20 years, while allowing “legal” deforestation by companies and local and regional governments?

How are we going to fight the economy of crime, drug trafficking and environmental crimes when illegal mining has taken over the Nanay basin in Loreto? How are we going to protect our environmental defenders who continue to die? How are we going to protect native communities if Peru received millions of dollars in the last 10 years to title their lands and only reached 20% of the goal? (And the worst thing is that there have been funds for all this in these years).

The urgent will gain space for the important. Socio-environmental conflicts will continue to appear and the Government will come out with its redistributive menu. And it’s OK. However, we continue on the same course, without concrete actions being carried out for an economic reactivation with a climate, energy or environmental transition. We have already given the State many vacations so that they do not show more than bureaucratic arrangements, we want to see concrete actions.

[Publirreportaje]