Read a news story based on the event
While the peace agreement is making slow progress and has faced several drawbacks due to the political situation and lack of will from the current government to support and advance its implementation, the situation of Colombia’s environment and local communities has deteriorated. Deforestation is rampant due to the peace agreement, driven by illegal land grabbing, infrastructure projects, the expansion of cattle ranching, an increase of coca plantations, legal and illegal mining projects. The governmental plan to resume aerial spraying of coca plantations with glyphosate will be a further environmental (and social) problem. In this seminar we wanted to highlight these different issues and engage with the audience in a Q & A on how to potentially address these challenges, including the question about how international investments and financial support for social and environmental projects in Colombia can contribute to build a positive trajectory and support the implementation of the peace agreement.
The seminar was divided into three themes with a lineup of great speakers who gave a short presentation followed by a 10 minutes Q & A after each session. A larger Q & A on ways forward followed the three sessions. The seminar was held in English, since we wanted to reach an international audience (civil society, policy-makers, international development organizations, academia, etc.)
The event was organised by Lund University (LUCSUS, CEC), Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University and the University of Gothenburg and supported by the Focali – SIANI collaboration.
Speakers:
Part 1 – Land use:
- Jesica López, Lund University
- Natalia Pérez, Simon Fraser University
- Nicola Clerici, Rosario University
Part 2 – Social dynamics:
- Juanita Esguerra-Rezk, University of Gothenburg
- Sandra Valencia, University of Gothenburg
- Paula Sánchez, Stockholm University
- Carlos Olaya, DeJusticia
Part 3 – Local insights:
- Kristina van Dexter, George Mason University
Moderation: Torsten Krause, LUCSUS & Focali
Watch the video on the SIANI YouTube channel to jump directly to specific speakers.