Translated by Andrés Martínez Forero
The agenda of 'Bogotá, My City, My Home' at the Conference on Biological Diversity COP16, taking place in Cali until November 1, 2024, includes biodiversity, responsibility, and environmental commitment.
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The Bogotá Mayor's Office and the Secretariat of Environment are strengthening ties with Brazil. Bogotá’s Secretary of Environment, Adriana Soto, held a key meeting with São Paulo's Secretary of Environment, Rodrigo Ravena, during COP16, within the framework of the 2024 Regional Policy Dialogue - Strategies for Biodiverse Cities, organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
As a result of this bilateral meeting, the secretaries announced the launch of a joint agenda for biodiversity protection, which will include actions in both the Brazilian city and the Colombian capital.
"We have identified points for a joint work agenda, where we will exchange experiences such as impact indicators to measure our goals, but also to monitor our biodiversity, as well as early warnings for fires," explained Adriana Soto at the end of the meeting.
São Paulo and Bogotá have common points in terms of biodiversity, and they also share challenges in the face of climate change effects.
Rodrigo Ravena, Secretary of Environment for São Paulo, stated: "It is an important action to monitor biodiversity and fires that we are conducting in São Paulo; protection is done with monitoring, not with intentions, but with the effectiveness of actions that can be measured."
Bogotá and São Paulo share their adherence to the C40 'Breath Cities' initiative, which aims to reduce air pollution in cities and improve public health through urban vegetation strategies, green infrastructure, and emission reductions. São Paulo is one of the 41 cities that have set ambitious goals for green spaces, as part of the C40 Urban Nature Accelerator, which Bogotá is also part of.
In addition to exchanging impact indicators, the Brazilian city expressed interest in implementing an innovative mechanism that the administration of Carlos Fernando Galán is launching in Bogotá for the conservation and restoration of environmentally valuable properties: the transfer of construction and development rights, which will allow progress in restoring soils like those of the Thomas van der Hammen reserve.
"We have very interesting experiences from Bogotá that can serve São Paulo, such as the transfer of construction rights, a mechanism that serves to acquire properties of high environmental interest, transferred voluntarily by their owners. These properties are passed on to environmental authorities to be conserved and restored, and in exchange, the property owner can receive a certificate for buildable square meters in other areas of the city," detailed Bogotá's Secretary of Environment, Adriana Soto.
During the meeting, authorities from both cities highlighted the importance of integrating scientific and community knowledge in environmental decision-making, as well as the need to strengthen financing and international cooperation to achieve urban biodiversity goals.
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For the follow-up to this joint agenda, "we are planning a summit of the two cities for next February to see how this joint work is progressing, what the advances are, and what opportunities remain from this work process," added Adriana Soto.
The meeting took place at Hacienda Cañasgordas, in Cali, within the framework of COP16. Both cities reiterated their commitment to promoting biodiverse and sustainable cities, better prepared to face climate change. The Secretariat of Environment (SDA) highlighted the meeting between Bogotá and São Paulo at COP16 in Cali, through its X social network account:
