Nahuel Schenone, director of the Argentine Native Forests Foundation for Biodiversity, starred in the fifth panel on sustainable development of Scope Debate, where the conversation revolved around the relationship between society, civil organizations, companies and governments.
During the event, moderated by the editor of Ámbito, Ariel Basile, and titled “Environmental Commitment”, Schenone considered that “Companies play a very important role due to the link they have in society with consumers” and added that “from the NGOs it transcends a little more, since our commitment is at a social level, but also generating bridges with companies and governments, in a search for greater sustainability of the actions, both of consumers and large cities, for example, like private companies and responsibility in environmental terms.”
“From NGOs, what we often look for is build those bridges between societies, governments and the private sector to be able to amalgamate or generate a balance in this type of sustainable development, where we each focus on our areas but the NGOs clearly have the power to create spaces of greater sustainability and links between actors,” he summarized.
Articulation for sustainable development
The Argentine Native Forests Foundation for Biodiversity emerged “at the level of environmentalism but with a view of sustainable development, not an ultra-conservationist view”, its director clarified and stressed that the objective is “allow us to think about how to develop, how to include science and technology in the Argentine natural environment and for development.”
“We need to develop as a country, as people and as citizens. That uses resources and from the environmental side we can seek to have a balance in that development and transmit sustainability. It is a more difficult exercise than pure conservationism, but it generates satisfaction to be able to engage more social actors in this search for general sustainability.”
The impact of companies on nature
In this regard, Schenone indicated that “the global agenda marks us for carbon neutrality as a way to compensate for global warming if we consider that it is a consequence of emissions,” but he added another axis: “Many times we compensate for carbon, but we lose nature. So, one of the trends that is emerging globally today, and from our organization we take it as our own, is how we improve diversity in production systems. That is, not only be carbon neutral, but also take into account the impact of companies on nature.”
“Each tool has its cycle and its objectives. There are many companies globally that are already counting nature in their production chain. It is something new, an agenda that is worked from Montreal Summit”, held.
In that tone, he added that “now there is one coming Colombia where one of the most important points is the commitment of companies to nature, both from the point of view of how they depend and how nature contributes to production models.” There, NGOs play a fundamental role in seeking models that help compensate and help companies to be able to travel this new path recently on the international agenda,” raised
When referring to the biodiversity, put the focus on “the potential it has as a generator of resources for the industry and for it to be part of a global sustainability model.”
On the other hand, he minimized President Javier Milei’s criticism of the 2030 agenda and the rejection of UN Future Pact. “Today the global agenda is installed and there are a lot of international agreements signed that transcend efforts, because there are already commitments assumed in armed projections,” he argued and highlighted that “The agenda is still standing and companies are going to look at what is coming.”
Argentina’s potential in environmental terms
Meanwhile, Schenone highlighted that “Argentina has a lot of market value in environmental terms, in terms of nature and resources,” He also said that the use of resources is “very well regarded” internationally. “I see the future as harmonious growth and global markets accepting that balance. This speaks of less pollution,” he highlighted.
“Argentina has a lot of water, but it is poorly distributed. The water issue is super important and is on the agenda. There was recently a very large flood in Brazil and it takes on the dimension of the problem both in excess and in deficiencies, as occurs in Córdoba,” he explained and pointed out: “You have the responsibility of people and companies for their water footprint, which is a way to build a bridge in your commitment. NGOs play the role of bringing these parts together.”
About the forest fires, described the situation as “a loop” and called to strengthen prevention, as well as “being able to incorporate environmental variables back into management models, because “We already know that El Niño and La Niña are two climatic conditions that affect us and we cannot be exempt from this in our early warning and mitigation policies,” for which he postulated an articulation between the Nation and provinces.
Finally, he called for “the productive perspective to begin to take these dimensions of nature in its productive schemes and in its business models” and asked entrepreneurs “that they are open to having dialogues with NGOs, because we are not activists or people who are seeking to generate a negative impact on the corporation, but rather to find points of balance.”
Source: Ambito
