Protected natural areas: regarding attempts at change

COLUMN ENVIRONMENT, TERRITORY AND DEMOCRACY

Last week, it was held at the Cusco XXV International Congress of the Network of Environmental Funds of Latin America and the Caribbean -RedLAC– and it was an opportunity for our State to highlight the fundamental role of protected natural areas -ANP- as an asset for sustainable development.

Currently, our country has 76 ANP of national administration, 32 regional conservation areas and 138 of private administration that cover more than 23 million hectares, which represents about 18% of the country’s land surface. But it is urgent to transform the vision of the ANP as an asset for sustainable development, which not only generates work and jobs but also well-being in society, even more so in a context of climate change, where they play a fundamental and strategic role, however , little or not at all understood by some sectors with an old vision of what is understood as development.

The conference was aimed at experts in environmental finance, leaders in sustainability in the world, financial entities, private sector, organized civil society and international cooperation agencies who participated in RedLAC, some with important examples of the role of the private sector, without a doubt a pleasant opportunity to see their contributions.

But despite this, today the cyclical has returned, based on various arguments against the conservation of our natural heritage, to facilitate, modify the regulations and its conservation mechanisms to “accelerate” investment, but what investment? At the expense of that? The evidence in the world of the need to change the matrix and energy transition is increasingly real, while here some intend to follow outdated policies and not take the step to start, to change, and to efficient management of our resources, where the Conservation of our heritage is a fundamental piece for the viability of our stay in this common home.

Various civil society organizations organized a space for reflection on this, led by Law, Environment and Natural Resources, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development and the Bartolomé de las Casas Center, in the Forum “Areas Protected Natural Areas, Indigenous Territories and Hydrocarbons in Peru” where we reiterate and remember the constitutional obligation of our State to conserve the ANP, but we also remember the control processes of the past that require the Ministry of Energy and Mines and Perupetro to respect the legal framework on compatibility before granting rights over ANP, in the face of attempts to make the legal framework more flexible coming not only from the Executive but also from Congress.

The conservation of our natural heritage is not incompatible with our growth, but it is based on the premise of understanding that we need to protect part of our heritage to make our existence viable, but also for the benefit of future generations and to have greater ambition around measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, and it is precisely there where greater investment and greater commitments are required by the private sector to reduce emissions and mitigate the climate crisis, but also serious policies that guarantee investment while respecting nature and not returning to the past with short-term measures to the detriment of everyone.

[PUBLIRREPORTAJE]