SELA reiterates support to its Member States in transition to circular economy

The Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched this Tuesday the Online Seminar “The Circular Economy as a Strategy for Development: The Role of the Legislative Branch” with a select panel of guests, who presented the strategies and advances for sustainable and inclusive economic development from the perspective of the Circular Economy.

“There is momentum for the transition to the Circular Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean. There are already 12 Member States of the Circular Economy Coalition of Latin America and the Caribbean, and more than six countries in our region already have national circular economy strategies,” the Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Clarems Endara, said at the opening of the Seminar.

Luisa Santiago, Director for Latin America at Ellen McArthur Foundation; Henrique Pacini, Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Patrick Schroeder, Director of Circular Economy at Chatham House; Guillermo González, Former Head of the Circular Economy Office at the Ministry of Environment of Chile; Karin Kässmayer, Environmental Consultant at the Federal Senate of Brazil; and Rómulo Armas, Director of Environmental and Technological Reconversion at the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries of Ecuador, made up the panel of experts of the first working session of this seminar, which will conclude tomorrow.

“The Latin American and Caribbean Economic System will continue its efforts to support its Member States in the transition to the circular economy (…) A large part of the responsibility for enabling and promoting the transition lies with our legislatures. The legal environment for the circular economy still requires a lot of attention. It is common for us to have laws in place that, in pursuit of some other legitimate objective, obstruct our economic and environmental goals. It is the challenge of legislators to design and adopt the necessary changes to promote the transition to the circular economy, without abandoning other legitimate aims,” the Permanent Secretary of SELA reiterated.