Susana Muhamad, 47, has established herself as one of the most important ministers in Colombia President Gustavo Petro's left-wing government, who was elected in 2022. "It's rare for an environment minister," said a European diplomat based in Bogotá who requested anonymity. From October 21 to November 1, Colombia will host the COP16 on biodiversity, and Muhamad, who has become a rising star of the environmental movement on the international scene, will preside over the conference.

Asked about the reasons for her success, Muhamad replied, "I cannot claim credit. The overall driving force comes from President Petro and an entire government." Petro, who has been in power for two years, has placed the green energy transition and environmental protection at the center of his agenda. He would like to make "total peace" with the armed movements plaguing his country and "peace with nature," which is the motto of the COP16 on biodiversity. "Both objectives fall under the state's relationship with its territories," said Muhamad. "Both the Colombian armed conflict and the degradation of nature are partly the result of an absence, an abandonment on the part of the State."

The ambitions of the first left-wing president in the country's history are immense, the achievements still slim and the criticisms of the opposition, circulated by private media, virulent. The president's verbosity on X and the various ministerial reshuffles have fueled an image of a chatty, ineffective government. "The left has never governed before, and we have only been in power for two years," said Muhamad. She is one of three ministers who have remained in office since the beginning of Petro's term.

In her view, the presence of centrist ministers in the first Petro government hampered the implementation of the environmental project. "But today, the whole government is on board," she said. She brushed aside criticism of her president's style ("authoritarian" for some, "confused" or "egotistical" for others). "Gustavo Petro is a visionary," she said. "I couldn't have been a minister in any other government."

Muhamad, who is of Palestinian descent on her father's side, studied political science at the University of the Andes, the country's most prestigious private university. She then got a master's degree in sustainable development management from the University of Stellenbosch, in South Africa. After that, she set off to "explore," as she put it. She traveled and volunteered extensively in the environmental field, before joining... Shell Global Solutions International in The Hague, Netherlands.

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