Biodiversity and sustainable urban development are the themes of the Forum of Pan-Amazonian Cities for 2023.
The Forum of Pan-Amazonian Cities (FCPA) was created in 2020 to strengthen the representativeness and capacity for regional and international advocacy of local governments in the Amazon region. It is a space that promotes the exchange of experiences and decentralized regional cooperation, especially regarding initiatives for sustainable urban and territorial development.
The Regional Program for Energy Security and Climate Change in Latin America (EKLA) of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) together with ICLEI South America and with the support of the Amazonian Scientific Research Institute (Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto SINCHI) and the Mayor's Office of Florencia, held the first face-to-face session of the Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto SINCHI, and the Mayor's Office of Florencia, held the first face-to-face session of 2023 of the FCPA on May 10, 11 and 12 in the city of Florencia, Colombia.
This year the thematic focus of the Pan-Amazon Cities Forum was on Biodiversity and Sustainable Urban Development. Eighteen cities were present with at least 01 representative, including mayors, but also the Special Secretary of Climate Change of Belém, the Secretary of Agriculture of Barcarena, the Director of Environmental Control of Manaus, the President of the Environment Foundation of Palmas, the Assistant of the Secretariat of Planning and Infrastructure of La Montañita and alderman of Machu Picchu. In total, the session was attended by more than 35 representatives of cities and institutions from Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia.
During the presentations and initial contextualization, there was a technical panel discussion, exposing the main actions of cities that promote the integration of biodiversity in the urban agenda, identifying issues such as restoration, conservation measures, payment for environmental services and nature-based solutions in the urban environment of Panamazonia. He also provided an overview of the main international debates on biodiversity in light of the approval of the global biodiversity framework in 2022 and the opportunities ahead of the COP30 to be held in the Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil. In this context, we highlight the participation of the Special Secretary for Climate Change of Belém, Sérgio Brazão, who presented some initiatives of the municipality of Belém for biodiversity conservation, such as, for example, the strategies developed to promote the bioeconomy of the flood islands of the city, regions with a predominance of açaí. The session was then divided into two discussion blocks. The first aimed to present the experiences and initiatives of Pan-Amazonian cities in nature-based solutions in the urban environment. The second, on the other hand, focused on the experiences and initiatives of Pan-Amazonian cities on conservation needs and some of the measures implemented.
We must also highlight all the support provided by the Municipality of Florencia, which in addition to bringing us closer to the local culture, also gave us the opportunity to meet some private and municipal nurseries that are heavily involved in reforestation, the urban environment, in addition to talks on local fauna and flora.
In addition to the institutions supporting the project, the Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the Humboldt Institute, Amazonía Emprende, Fondo Colombia en Paz and GCoM participated with an exhibition space.
Another point discussed was to think together, for the next meeting to be held in Porto Velho, Brazil, in the second half of 2023, how to increase the representation of Panamanian cities at summits such as COP28 on Climate Change and COP16 in 2024 on Biodiversity.
