Our reaction to the CELAC EU Summit
-
Advocacy
-
Global Europe
Latin American and EU member states met for the fourth CELAC-EU Summit held on November 9-10, 2025, in Santa Marta, Colombia. We welcome the EU–CELAC Summit commitment to “restore and protect natural resources and ecosystems, particularly water, and recognise that this can only be done through regional and international cooperation.” This aligns directly with what we have been advocating through the EU Wetland Partnerships, a tool designed to foster cross-border and international collaboration for wetland protection, restoration, and sustainable management, while also supporting socio-economic development and placing people at the centre. Ahead of the Summit, we were concerned that environmental commitments might not be sufficiently prioritised among the many agenda items, and we are therefore encouraged to see a clear and explicit acknowledgment of the importance of protecting natural resources and ecosystems.
We also thank the Colombian Presidency for its inspiring leadership, from CBD COP17 to the Summit.
As highlighted by the CELAC–EU Civil Society Working Group, regional cooperation must be rooted in the protection of human rights, social justice, and the strengthening of democratic spaces. The Group stressed that many crises in Latin America and the Caribbean remain insufficiently addressed—such as internal conflicts, generalized violence, and forced displacement—and called for commitments that tackle structural causes and ensure the protection and participation of affected communities. They also underscored that environmental and climate action must go hand in hand with inclusive, transparent, and accountable governance, noting that transitions will only be just if they uphold human rights, equity, and meaningful civic participation.
The EU Wetland Partnerships offer a concrete and scalable tool to operationalise these commitments by translating high-level pledges into coordinated action on the ground. By embedding Wetland Partnerships within EU strategies such as the Water Resilience Strategy and Global Gateway, they bring a much-needed blue dimension to the Green Agenda and generate measurable benefits for resilience, climate adaptation, biodiversity, and local livelihoods.
The EU and CELAC now have a unique opportunity to turn words into action, making wetlands a shared priority for people, climate, and nature, while strengthening partnerships to mobilise resources for key ecosystems such as the Pantanal.
Click here to open the Joint Declaration of the CELAC-EU summit 2025.
Read the recap of the event here (in Spanish).