Open Letter to the Salvadoran Government asking them to sign the Escazu agreement

The Escazú Agreement, a watershed 2018 United Nations environmental treaty for Latin America and the Caribbean, could mark a dramatic shift in environmental policy for Central America. Despite the deepening climate change-related degradation of the country’s environment and violence against the environmentalists who come to its defense, though, the Bukele administration hasn’t publicly expressed its intentions regarding the accord. (SOURCE)

Several organizations from the Civil Society have signed an open letter asking the president Nayib Bukele to sign the Escazu Agreement.

The letter states:

…The hard times that we are living globally, regionally and in our country due to the COVID19 pandemic, along with other crises in which we were already immersed, such as climate change and the accelerated loss of biodiversity, have highlighted the urgency and need to affirm the commitment to the care and preserve the environment, to ensure the health of the planet and of humanity (…)

We understand that (…) the Escazú Agreement is(…) at the Presidential House, ready to be signed since March 2020, for that reason we request, that this is prioritized within your work schedule (…) given that it does not contradict legally and constitutionally any international and national commitment.

All States, as established in the Agreement, have until September 26, 2020 to send the signed instrument at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. In the case of our country, the Head of the Mission of El Salvador to the United Nations can be delegated to do so on behalf of the Government. Many countries, despite the pandemic, have managed to expedite the processes to sign and advance in its ratification.

For the Agreement to enter into force, 11 countries must sign and ratify it. At this time, 22 have signed it and 9 have ratified it. There is little time for that deadline. This is a historical opportunity to provide the country with a robust instrument that allows expanding the legal grip, strengthen institutions and advance democracy and environmental governance.

Finally, we strongly affirm that environmentalists are not enemies of the State, they are custodians of the ancestral heritage of our peoples, who have preserved ecosystems and biodiversity for many years. They call us, from their commitment with the care and defense of life, to carry on with that legacy for the well-being of present and future generations.

You can ask the Salvadoran Government to sign the agreement here.

Read the letter (in Spanish) in full here:

Peticion al Gobierno Salvadoreño para que firme el tratado de Escazu

More information in ACAFREMIN page here (in Spanish)

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