COP16: Keys to rediscovering the link between society and nature

The social sciences (sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, languages, global studies and political science) will be essential at COP16, as they provide tools that help to understand and reflect on the relationship between society and nature; as well as to identify the lessons and strategies needed to face the future.  

COP16 puts the environment on the table as a political issue and, above all, as a global geopolitical issue. As a collegial body of the member countries of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the COP makes policy decisions with environmental implications, particularly with regard to biodiversity and its conservation.  

In these multilateral discussions, the states of the North, which are the main emitters of greenhouse gases in their development process, and the states of the South, which are the custodians of ecologically valuable regions such as the Amazon, present positions based on their specific national interests, which include the protection of natural resources, the promotion of cleaner technologies, the possibility of financing tasks such as the expansion of education or health care with resources derived from royalties from the exploitation of the natural environment, among others.  

Many of these debates have repercussions and are fed by citizen mobilizations on climate change. Fridays for Future, an initiative of the Swedish Greta Thunberg, is one of them. In addition, other groups and organizations have been working on these issues for decades: the recently created Just Stop Oil; Greenpeace; Gaia Amazonas; and the Humboldt Institute in Colombia.

These organizations represent different ways of relating to the environment, beyond the sometimes conflicting states. They have become powerful and sophisticated references, using communication and lobbying resources that go beyond traditional forms of political participation and demand a new understanding of the relationship between new technologies and society.

Furthermore, it is necessary to understand these positions in light of Target 14 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022): "Achieve the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies, regulations, planning and development processes, poverty eradication strategies, strategic environmental and environmental impact assessments and, where appropriate, national s for all levels of government and all sectors, in particular those with significant impacts on biodiversity, by progressively aligning all relevant public and private activities and financial and fiscal flows with the objectives and targets of this framework."  

Thinking about justice and equity in resource use and relationships with the environment requires an understanding of the socio-spatial context of people, the environments they inhabit, and their evolution over time. It is necessary to integrate the human, biophysical and environmental dimensions of social reality in order to understand the socio-economic impacts of environmental degradation in historically marginalized communities and for the global population. 

It is also important to understand the historical processes and cultural parameters that shape perceptions of the environment; or how conflict, inequality, illegal economies, and land concentration have affected communities' relationships with their surroundings.

It is also well known that human diversity is socially and politically valuable. But these considerations can be expanded to include the intrinsic value of biodiversity and its connection to cultural diversity. Protecting ecosystems also protects traditional ways of life and traditional knowledge.

Traditional knowledge is also essential for the conservation of biodiversity. For example, linguistic knowledge, because the used by indigenous communities show how they relate to their environment. It also includes fundamental questions about cultural identity (with its customs and languages), about relationships between different cultural environments, and about the obvious tensions that arise when different worldviews coexist.  

The theme "Peace with Nature" is an invitation to reflect on our relationship with the environments we inhabit, and to think about the different logics and ontologies that some societies, such as indigenous peoples, practice in establishing these relationships. 

(Lea también: ¿La sequía histórica de este año en el río Amazonas sería solo ‘un abrebocas’ de lo que se viene? Esto dicen los estudios y expertos)

Archaeology, by studying the interactions between people and the environment in the past, is a great opportunity to learn from different past experiences, some more successful than others, where the ways of interacting with the environment allowed the development of, for example, more sustainable technologies and ways of inhabiting the environment.

Thanks to anthropology, archaeology and cultural studies, we have been able to establish an important heritage, learning about the agricultural practices of the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, who have shown forms of sustainable coexistence with the environment.

In addition to the previous point, there is another philosophical question that has to do with our duties to those who do not yet exist. We have concrete social relations by virtue of which we have duties to others: our family, our friends, our fellow citizens. But how do we understand the idea that we have duties to future generations, and how much should their interests be taken into in our decisions?  

The central tasks to emerge from COP16 are to build social norms of efficient and responsible consumption, to mitigate negative emotions of individuals (especially young people) towards past environmental damage (eco-damage) and new damage in the future (eco-anxiety). 

(Lea también: COP16: estos son tres métodos de agricultura regenerativa que se desarrollan en los campos de Boyacá)

They help us to understand the context, to identify the actors and interests at stake, to know the relationships that emerge, to understand the interaction between them and, above all, to find ways to overcome them.