The Luis Angel Arango public library in La Candelaria organised a very stimulating and enriching public event today, with four wonderful minds discussing the Colombian floods, the deterioration of the country's ecosystems, the need to adapt to what the future climate holds, and the country's current pressing humanitarian needs.
It was one of those relatively frequent moments in Colombia which leave you scratching your head: if the quality of the people is so high, their capacity for intelligent empathy and deep understanding so acute, their commitment to resolving social problems so intense, you wonder, how can the country still face all the deep problems that it does? Where is the disconnect; where are all the entrenched interests who ignore the ethics, rigour and clarity of all the arguments put forward today? What is it in Colombian history and society which means that the kinds of principles set out in this discussion are most often overlooked?
In a hall of 100 or so people, and with further groups of people listening to the debate live in 13 or so branches of the library around the country, the two hours passed by very fast.
Everardo Murillo led the line-up: Everardo is head of 'Colombia Humanitaria', the nation's unprecedented humanitarian platform, set up during the floods at the end of the last year. Everardo is one of the best examples of the best of civil servants in Colombia: humble, serious, intelligent, full of solidarity for the poor, plain-speaking, wise, someone who's travelled right across the country over decades. From the coffee country, Everardo is well-known for having led the reconstruction of this region following the earthquake in Armenia in 1998, which killed thousands of people.
Next, Brigitte Baptiste, of whom I have written in previous blogs. Brigitte gave a fantastic, eloquent account of the impact of the floods on Colombia's biodiversity and ecosystems; a thoughtful reflection on the 'El Niño/La Niña cycle', which has gone on for hundreds and thousands of years; an intrinsically fair account of winners and losers from the current situation; and all delivered with a level of analytical clarity which made complex arguments feel absolutely clear. "We don't yet know how to live in Colombia", said Brigitte nearer the end, in a reprise of a theme she has made her own elsewhere.
Ricardo Lozano, the Meteorological Institute's Director, also spoke, giving a didactic and characteristically communicative scientific account of the current floods, replete with the graphs and data which IDEAM routinely connects. Ricardo's strong, clear argument referred to the urgent need for adaptation to climate change - both within ecosystems and communities - to the changes which are underway.
The event was chaired by a poetic, wise, elderly professor and thinker - Joaquín Molino Barrero - who spoke with tremendous clarity and foresight, adding real value both in his introduction and in his closing words. His knowledge of Colombian geography seemed intense; and his incitement to the audience that the event be only the beginning of a conversation and a reflection on these issues seemed particularly welcome.
I left feeling very renewed by the level of the debate, the scale of the challenge ahead, and the knowledge that such fine people are working on these issues. As Brigitte confided in me before it began, however apocalyptic one may feel, there is always home in humanity's creativeness and capacity to adapt; and always the need, from the ethical perspective, to do all that one can to make things better. What else is there to do, she said...!
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