ParlAmericas held two side-events on sustainable agriculture and circular economy as part of Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week 2022
ParlAmericas took part in the events of Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week 2022, held from July 18 to 22 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week 2022, organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Government of the Dominican Republic, was established to engage and empower stakeholders to promote climate action across all Latin American and Caribbean countries, communities, and economies. Anabella Zavagno, Deputy Director General of ParlAmericas, and Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality, participated in various working groups designed to advance multiple goals such as promoting climate action, addressing social inequalities, investing in the adequate development of people and nature, exploring resilience to climate risks, supporting the transition toward a low-carbon economy and building alliances to address the most urgent challenges.
Within the context of these events, and together with the Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, an inter-parliamentary network supported by FAO and Spanish Cooperation, ParlAmericas was co-organizer of a parallel event held on July 19 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, titled ‘Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Agri-Food System: The Role of Parliaments.’ The gathering brought together parliamentarians and parliamentary staff as well as representatives from farmers’ and women’s organizations of the Americas and the Caribbean with the aim of exchanging various legislative strategies that could be used to ensure women’s empowerment and participation in building sustainable food systems.
The discussion was moderated by Guadalupe Valdez, FAO Special Goodwill Ambassador for Zero Hunger for the Region of Latin America and the Caribbean, and included the participation of Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality, Member of the Chamber of Deputies Soraya Suarez (Dominican Republic), Country Coordinator of the Parliamentary Front against Hunger, Elsa Sánchez, member of the Dominican Republic’s Articulación Nacional Campesina-ANC (National Peasant Articulation) and Sara Cognuck González, rural woman and co-founder of the Youth and Climate Change Network of Costa Rica, in addition to working as a consultant for UNICEF.
Member of the Chamber of Deputies Soraya Suarez (Dominican Republic) noted, “It is a real tragedy that in today’s Latin America and Caribbean, 268 million people, most of whom are women, suffer from food insecurity. We must urgently mobilize parliamentary action to eradicate this affliction from our nations.” In this regard, the parliamentarian shared the experience of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic regarding bills to address school meals and family farming.
In reference to the importance of the topics addressed during the gathering, and after sharing the experience of the Senate of the Republic of Mexico with the inclusion of rural women in parliamentary work, Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (México) stated, “This discussion reflects the transformational potential of parliamentary work that lends an ear to the citizenry, and outlines the work we’ve been doing at ParlAmericas to promote gender equality, open parliament, and climate action. If we want to succeed in promoting sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture, we need to create forums such as these in which parliamentarians can share legislative practices while listening to and learning from the views of rural women, whose experiences and knowledge enrich our parliamentary work.”
Additionally, on July 20, there was an event titled ‘Unleashing opportunities of circular economy towards 1.5 degrees temperature goal,’ which was jointly organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Circular Economy Coalition for Latin America and the Caribbean, ParlAmericas, the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Deuman.
The gathering presented best practices in public policy and action taken by various sectors to promote circular economy with a cross-disciplinary approach towards climate action, particularly from Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and included the participation of Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality; Jimy Ferrer Carbonell, Economic Affairs Officer at the Climate Change Economy Unit of the ECLAC’s Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division; Luisa Santiago, of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation; Racquel Moses, CEO at The Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator; Diana Ramos Perez, Climate Technology Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean at the CTCN; Cristhian Abanto, Business Manager at Deuman; Julissa Baez, Executive Director of the Dominican Republic’s Association of Portland Cement Producers (ADOCEM); and María Alicia Urbaneja, Executive Director of ECORED.
On the subject of this event, Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico) stated, “An essential part of achieving an effective and inclusive circular economy is the mainstreaming of a gender perspective. When making political decisions to promote new green sectors, there should be a conscious and deliberate consideration of gender dimensions, for example, in order to ensure equality between professional viewpoints and in representation at every level of the value chain.”
