'COP16 is a great opportunity to showcase Colombia's natural beauty to the international community and the world': British Ambassador to Colombia

COP16 will not only be a meeting to protect global nature, but also an opportunity to showcase the beauty and biodiversity of the country. This is the opinion of the British Ambassador to Colombia, George Hodgson, who, in an interview with EL TIEMPO, highlighted the role that our country is playing in of global environmental leadership.

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The diplomat stressed that during the summit, the United Kingdom will have a "British House" in Cali, a space that will serve as a meeting point for its negotiators (led by Steve Reed, the country's environment minister), but also for the dozens of people from British organisations who will be attending the summit.

Hodgson also stressed that these organisations, with the of the Embassy, will bring a cultural agenda to the country, which will also be part of the Green Zone, where all citizens and visitors to Cali will be able to enjoy various cultural and artistic spaces and exhibitions open to the public between 21 October and 1 November.

The UK and Colombia have a very strong relationship on environmental issues. This relationship consists of t action in places such as the COP on Biodiversity and the COP on Climate Change. A couple of years ago we renewed the Alliance for Sustainable Growth, which has three axes: the protection and promotion of biodiversity; the protection of forests, particularly in the Amazon; and energy transition. So these are very much our issues.

Maybe, and this is my speculation, it is because of the presence of indigenous cultures in Colombia that value nature so much. I think some of that is part of the DNA of Colombia and Colombians.

We congratulate Colombia for its commitment. Because it is an important position and a great responsibility. We have confidence in Colombia and that COP16 will be a great event. I think it is a great opportunity for Colombia in the sense that the country can demonstrate this leadership, but it is also an opportunity to open Colombia to the international community and to the world to highlight its beauty. Beauty has many elements, but one of them is nature, and when I talk about nature, I think it is a showcase for ecotourism opportunities.

There will be a significant presence from the British government, led by our Environment Secretary, along with another Environment Secretary and a delegation of negotiators. They will be working very hard on the Blue Zone in the negotiations. But with a broader vision, the British delegation also includes businesses, institutions, civil society. Many actors, and I stress this a little bit because if you think about how we are going to conserve the world's biodiversity, it is not just a government issue, it is something that affects all of us, it is a team effort, and all the actors that I have mentioned have a fundamental role to play.

One thing I should mention is the London Natural History Museum exhibition, which will be held at the Tertulia Museum in the heart of downtown Cali, right next to the Green Zone. It is a Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, which is probably the most prestigious nature photography competition in the world. It is an exhibition that mainly takes place in this museum in London, but it is an opportunity because for the first time some of the winning photos are coming to Cali, so that people can connect through photography and art.

We have a wide range of interventions. To mention just a few: we are working hard to protect the Amazon forest with interventions to provide the people who live in and with the forest with opportunities other than cutting down the forest; we are working with the government in its program of a multipurpose cadastre to understand who the owners of the land are and thus confront incursions and land grabbing; we are working hard on environmental crime issues, strengthening the capacities of the Attorney General's Office, the police, and the entire system; We are working hard on environmental crime issues, strengthening the capacities of the Prosecutor's Office, the Police, and the whole system; we are working to protect fragile landscapes and ecosystems such as the corals of the islands of Providencia, which are a great resource, but unfortunately a threatened resource not only here in Colombia but in the world.

EDWIN CAICEDO

Environment and Health Journalist

@CaicedoUcros

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