The Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that President Gabriel Boric has signed the UN Escazú Agreement on Friday, reversing the stance of former President Sebastián Piñera’s government.
The Escazú Treaty is an environmental treaty signed by 24 Latin American and Caribbean nations and is the first such treaty emerging from the region. It aims to achieve “access to environmental information, public participation in the environmental decision-making process and access to justice in environmental matters.”
The treaty was negotiated at the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (“Rio 2012 Conference”) and is the first in the world to include provisions on the rights of defenders of the environment. The treaty was adopted on March 4, 2018, and came into force on April 22, 2021. Chile now becomes the 25th signatory on the treaty and the 12th ratifying member state from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
During and after the Rio 2012 conference, Chile had led negotiations as co-chair along with Costa Rica. The Piñera government had even reaffirmed its intention to enter the agreement during its second term in 2018. However, in September 2020, the Piñera government backed out of its commitment claiming that the treaty threatened Chile’s sovereignty.
This move was heavily criticized as the inclusion of environmental defenders in the treaty had been most welcome. Latin America is considered one of the most dangerous areas for environmental activists. In September 2021, Global Witness, a human rights organization, reported that almost three in four killings out of 227 land and environmental defenders killed in 2020 took place in the Americas.
The signing of the agreement is one of the first measures Boric took since he assumed office last month. Boric appreciated the work of environmental activists and further expressed his intention to achieve “regional integration” in Latin America.
Post the signing, Boric urged the Chilean Parliament on Saturday to ratify the bill quickly “because life cannot wait.”
