Participación ambiental en la normatividad sobre mitigación del cambio climático, puesta a Consulta Pública entre el periodo de 2015 al 2022 en Colombia

Abstract

Environmental legislation seeks to regulate access to and protection of the environment; however, citizen involvement in the formulation process can have a positive or negative impact during implementation. Public consultation is a participatory mechanism used to gather comments on specific regulatory proposals, strengthening trust, effectiveness, and transparency in the interaction between the State and society (National Planning Department [DNP], 2023, p. 4). A large percentage of the population has lost confidence in public institutions and political initiatives because they perceive that the level of corruption in the country in 2023 remained the same or increased compared to 2021 (National Planning Department [DNP], 2024, p. 13). This reflects that different actors in society do not recognize or feel involved in the formulation of public policies; therefore, this situation generates rejection and ineffectiveness in their implementation (Gumucio C., 2014). Climate change is considered one of the three main problems of the climate crisis (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP], 2021). Given that it is a global environmental issue, 194 countries have ratified the Paris Agreement, including Colombia through Law 1844 of 2017. The measures defined in this agreement are classified into three components: “greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, climate change adaptation, and means of implementation as an instrumental component of policies and actions for low-carbon, climate-adapted, and climate-resilient development” (Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development [MADS], 2020, p. 1). Therefore, the main objective of this research is to understand how environmental participation was involved in the climate change mitigation regulations submitted for public consultation by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development between 2015 and 2022 in Colombia, understanding how environmental legislation is developed. The research was developed using a mixed methodological approach, employing a systematic design (a variant of grounded theory), following a series of steps in the analysis of information, beginning with data collection, then with open, axial, and selective coding, to finally visualize a theory (Cited in Hernández et al; 2014; p. 473), which in this case is the Democracy Cube methodology of Archon Fung (2006), through the analysis of three dimensions: who participates, how participants communicate with each other and make decisions together, and how discussions are linked to policies or public action. Content analysis was used as the method, employing non-probabilistic or purposive sampling. Subsequently, each text was inductively coded and categorized according to the dimensions and categories described in the methodology using Atlas.ti software. It was found that during the study period, 16 draft regulations were submitted for public consultation. Participation in these consultations primarily involved public entities, academic institutions (Professional Stakeholder Groups), private sector companies, non-profit organizations, and business associations (Expert Administrators). Three communication channels were used: Preference Development, Technical Expertise, and Aggregation and Negotiation. Furthermore, the categories of Co-governance and Direct Authority were found in the feedback process, meaning that the content of the approved regulations was always subject to the decision of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. Finally, it was understood that the Public Consultation mechanism requires additional actions that allow access to information, environmental justice and open participation, three rights proposed by the author Amparo Rodríguez (2021) to develop Environmental Participation, therefore, different actions are proposed based on the cultural and political dimensions proposed by Ulloa et al (2008).