The event was attended by mayors of Amazonian cities in Colombia, Peru and Environment Secretariats of the main Brazilian Amazonian capitals, with the aim of strengthening their representativeness and their capacity for regional and international advocacy as local authorities in the Amazon region. In addition, to promote the exchange of experiences and regional cooperation regarding initiatives for sustainable urban and territorial development.
Nicolás Galarza, Deputy Minister of Environmental Planning of the Colombian Territory, and in charge of holding the inaugural conference, explained: “The Colombian Amazon has the potential to generate energy from solar sources. It is very important that we try to move forward in terms of clean transport. In addition, the great potential that we have from photovoltaic generation and all the work that is carried out by the research institutes of Colombia and Peru in the Amazon to implement biodigesters and generate energy through biomass.”
This year the thematic focus of the Pan-Amazon Cities Forum revolved around accessibility to clean energy and energy transitions. In addition, he focused his discussions on the challenges regarding energy security and access to energy under the geographical conditions and territorial distances of Amazonian cities. Since the energy transition, as warned by the Intergovernmental Panel of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC, 2022), is a priority process that must be accelerated to achieve carbon neutrality and ensure a temperature increase of 1.5 °C.
Other speakers at the event were Jorge Luis Mendoza, mayor of the city of Leticia, Luis Alexander Mejía, director of Corpoamazonia, Lina Vega, deputy director of Planning of the Institute for Planning and Promotion of Energy Solutions for Non-Interconnected Zones (IPSE), Rebecca Borges, Specialist of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) for the Americas, Natalia Castañeda, Environmental Advisor of Asocapitales, Sandra Perdomo, director in charge of the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute, among others.
Another point discussed was to think together how to increase the representativeness of the Panamanian cities before summits, such as the COP27 on Climate Change and the COP15 on Biodiversity. After this discussion, we agreed to make a joint letter to be taken to the COPs and we will have a final meeting in November 2022 to discuss this issue and prepare the agenda for 2023.
