How do geography and history drive international relations regarding Latin America? During this symposium, several diplomats and legal experts will look at ‘Environment & Indigenous Rights’ and ‘Regional Integration & New Technologies’. 

Climate change and human actions have increasingly harmed nature and communities in Latin America. This trend has exposed biomes, such as the Amazon, to critical danger. Local and indigenous communities are among the most vulnerable to the effects of those changes. Through policy responses, regional cooperation and legal action, Latin American countries have to face this pressing issue that impacts not only the nature and people of Latin America but also the globe.

Regional integration refers to legal and institutional frameworks through which states coordinate policies, pool authority, and organize shared markets. While creating new forms of cooperation, technology exposes the limits of existing organizations. Regional integration now works within frameworks that are hard to control. The task for regional organizations is to determine how deep cooperation must go to remain meaningful in a world shaped by digital, biological, and financial transformations.

This event also offers a special comparative perspective, how global challenges seen in the Netherlands and in the European Union, from environmental rights to digital governance, are dealt with in Latin America.