The Amazon summit in Belem, Brazil, continues on Wednesday with representatives from other regions with tropical forests invited to discuss with South American countries solutions to curb deforestation, a major issue in the fight against climate change.
The eight countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA) announced on Tuesday the creation of an Alliance against deforestation.
But environmental NGOs regretted the lack of concrete announcements in the joint declaration, signed by Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
“There is no clear measure to respond to the climate emergency, no precise objective or fixed deadline to eradicate deforestation” lambasted Leandro Ramos, of the Brazilian branch of Greenpeace, on Wednesday, who would also have liked that the statement refers to “the end of oil exploration” in the Amazon.
“So that our vision is not just written on paper, we must adopt concrete actions”, admitted on Wednesday the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Mauro Vieira.
Hosted by Brazilian head of state Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the presidents of Congo-Brazzaville and the Republic of Congo, countries that are also home to vast rainforests, took part in Wednesday’s debates, and Indonesia was also represented.
“Countries with large tropical forests must have a voice,” declared Mauro Vieira at the opening of the debates.
“And developed countries need to play their part, meet developing country financing targets for climate, biodiversity and sustainable development,” he added.
France, which has Amazon territory with Guyana, is represented by its ambassador in Brasilia, Brigitte Collet, who read a message sent by President Emmanuel Macron.
The latter wished to “confirm France’s strong commitment to the protection of forests and the Amazon in particular.”
To fight against deforestation, he called for “finding concrete solutions to our common problems, not by shutting down tropical forests but by involving the people who live in the forest and the forest, and who are the first guardians”.
The objective of Wednesday’s meeting is to find points of agreement for the UN COP28 conference, which will take place at the end of the year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which has also sent a representative.
The COP30, in 2025, will be organized in Belem, an Amazonian city which hosts the summit this week.
The joint declaration of the eight ACTO countries, a river document in 113 points, laid down in detail the milestones of cooperation “to prevent the Amazon from reaching the point of no return” in this vast region that is home to about 10% of the world’s biodiversity.
If this point of no return were reached, the Amazon would emit more carbon than it absorbed, which would aggravate global warming.
“It has never been more urgent to resume and expand our cooperation,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday, referring to a “new Amazonian dream”.
“It is positive that the Heads of State have recognized the risk of reaching the point of no return in the Amazon and the urgency of avoiding it. But it is necessary to take concrete and robust measures to eradicate deforestation as soon as possible. as soon as possible,” Mauricio Voivodic, director of the Brazilian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), said on Tuesday.
Between 1985 and 2021, the Amazon rainforest lost 17% of its vegetation, according to data collected by the MapBiomas research project.
09/08/2023 19:05:38 – Belém (Brésil) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
