Cali, October 23, 2024 - At the International Forum on Women and Biodiversity, the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad and Vice President Francia Márquez received the Inírida Declaration, a manifesto that seeks to influence decision-making processes and proposes a global vision of women caretakers of biodiversity. This document will be presented by the Minister in the COP16 Blue Zone, so that everyone can hear her commitments and proposals.
“I assume the responsibility to bring these inputs so that they are really heard and that target 23 of the Kunming Montreal Framework is not simply an inclusion at the end, a rhetoric because now it is time to be politically correct and have to include women, because if not, we are not in a policy of inclusion. Inclusion is not only the word, inclusion is the power of decision”, said the Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad.
Colombia's Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, will take the global vision of women caretakers of biodiversity, as expressed in the Inírida Declaration, to the high-level meetings of the COP16 Blue Zone.
The role of women at COP16
This document is the product of working groups made up of women from all over the country, who committed themselves to lead solutions in the different regions to the challenges facing the planet in terms of biodiversity loss. They also request that their ideas be heard and valued, so that decision-makers recognize that women are a fundamental part of socio-environmental solutions.
“This Inírida declaration is a call for collective action that recognizes the fundamental role of women in the governance of biodiversity and water. It seems to us that it is fundamental that this is the beginning of a public conversation that must continue and even more so with Minister Susana Muhamad as president of a COP. This is a document of collective construction that is very important for the world”, commented María Virginia Blanco, representative of the women.
The Inírida Declaration is a manifesto that seeks to influence decision-making processes. It was led by women defenders, activists, academics, researchers, entrepreneurs, indigenous peoples, black communities, Afro-descendants, raizales, palenqueras, peasants, youth, among others.
To conclude, the women pledged to continue fighting for climate justice and gender equality, statements supported by Minister Muhamad, who highlighted the capacity of women to influence global public policy and take ownership of spaces and emphasized that women's power is connected to nature.