The National Social Engagement Meeting (ENVIS) 2024, in Puerto Varas, organized by Balloon Latam in collaboration with the 3xi Corporation, concluded successfully, bringing together a diverse audience to address vital issues for the future of Chile, with a central focus on balancing development with the preservation of the environment and available resources.
In its fifth version, the National Social Engagement Meeting, which is organized every year by Balloon Latam and the 3xi Corporation in order to promote dialogue on vital issues for society, chose the Los Lagos region as the venue for the dialogue on sustainability.
The Hueñu Hueñu park, in Salmones Camanchaca, welcomed nearly 1,500 people from 14 regions, more than 150 communes, from various areas, gathered at tables of unlikely pairs, that is, people who, given their life paths, could hardly have found another way.
Sebastián Salinas, founder and executive president of Balloon Latam, commented that “we are here to highlight the rural world, a space where the greatest inequalities in our country are found, and that is why they are also made invisible. These instances allow people to share, dialogue, and also learn from other people. We appreciate accepting the invitation from the Los Lagos region to talk and put the country as a topic.”
The executive director of the 3xi corporation Camilo Herrera explained that “Chile has a great responsibility not only with its inhabitants and ecosystems, but with the entire world. Our country can make a tremendously significant contribution, for example, to the energy transition and thus to the sustainability of the planet and life. We can do it well and to achieve it we must be able to find ourselves in a great self and put radical collaboration into action, to explore a dream country.”
Growth and sustainability as indivisible keys to achieving the prosperity of Chile.
Throughout its history, the Los Lagos Region and in particular Puerto Varas, have faced the challenge of harmonizing the multiple opportunities offered by its territory and the diversity of its inhabitants, with economic development and urban growth. Today the area is working to make different activities compatible with the protection of the environment and the quality of life of its inhabitants.
The need to unite growth and sustainability as indivisible keys to achieving prosperity in Chile was one of the most recurrent reflections that occurred in the dialogues held between authorities, social leaders, businessmen, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of different sectors who traveled from the entire country to be part of the National Linkage Meeting, ENVIS 2024.
Social Linkage to face environmental challenges.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of the Environment, Maisa Rojas, and of Public Works, Jessica López, who spoke with the attendees about the environmental, social and economic challenges that the climate crisis represents, as well as the need to recover growth figures that allow Chile to overcome its gaps and achieve prosperity.
The Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, highlighted the value of being present alongside representatives from different sectors of the country. "It is very important that we can have these spaces to talk and reflect on the great challenges we face and how that affects our future, our present as well."
Meanwhile, Maisa Rojas, Minister of the Environment, stressed that “environmental challenges are not only environmental, they are social, economic and require urgent addressing.” And he added that “Chile has a climate change framework law that says that we will be carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest and resilient to the adverse effects of the climate crisis. So, my role as minister today is to implement that law and these spaces contribute to making it happen in a satisfactory manner.
From the dialogues and links generated between the participants, based on the findings that emerged, a document will be prepared that will be a starting point and also an input to design a roadmap and advance the work so that sustainability and economic growth are possible in a harmonious manner.
At the close of the event, Balloon Latam announced that next year this instance of dialogue will travel north so that Coquimbo will be the host city of ENVIS 2025.
