News

Bogotá includes mountains in risk management

12.06.2019

The Corporación Ambiental Empresarial (CAEM) organized the International Seminar on Environmental Risk Management on Friday 7 June 2019 in Bogotá, Colombia. CAEM presented to 328 participants from companies and municipal entities about methodologies plans to reduce the risk of disasters such as the effects of climate change in the Bogotá-Cundinamarca region, one of Colombia’s 32 departments. CAEM is a subsidiary body of the Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá and Corporación Autónoma Regional de Cundinamarca (CAR).  

It is important for the region to be proactive in managing risk namely because agriculture is integral to the Cundinamarca department. It is Colombia’s primary producer of products such as mangoes, blackberries and strawberries, roses and carnations, potatoes, beans and many vegetables, such as broccoli and spinach.

Mountains were addressed at the seminar in the context of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and regional experiences in building resilient territories. A discussion about resilient territory building was led by guest speaker Alberto Pascual, director of Fundación Comunidad, who highlighted "linking sustainable productive activities such as the initiative of mountain products with the management of the upper part of the river watershed as part of the local action plan for disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change.”

Both the private and public sectors, as well as international speakers, presented at the seminar. The intention of the meeting was to promote production systems in compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Local governments must implement risk management plans, and public and private entities are called on to guarantee the protection of the natural, social and economic environment. It is imperative for communities to establish these preparations before facing the challenges of climate variability.

The International Seminar on Environmental Risk Management was a capacity building opportunity for stakeholders invested in managing risk. Participants of the event made valuable contributions to disaster risk management and climate change preparedness at the national level, and urban and business issues at the regional level.

News by Fundación CoMunidad

Photo from Corporación Ambiental Empresarial (CAEM)