Belem: On Tuesday, eight Amazonian nations urged industrialised nations to take greater action to protect the world's largest rainforest as their leaders gathered in Brazil for a significant summit to determine a common strategy for addressing climate change.
They claimed that since numerous nations have contributed to climate change, stopping the destruction of the rainforest cannot be the responsibility of a small number of them. The newly resurrected Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation, or ACTO, hopes that a strong united front will give them a significant voice in international environmental negotiations.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said, "It is time to look at the centre of our continent and consolidate, once and for all, our Amazon identity."
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According to a joint statement released on Tuesday, the first day of the two-day summit, the leaders want to support much-needed economic growth in their nations while preventing the Amazon's ongoing decline "from reaching a point of no return."
According to some scientists, when 20 to 25 percent of the forest is destroyed, rainfall will drastically decrease, causing more than half of the rainforest to become tropical savannah and resulting in a significant loss of biodiversity.
The region's largest Indigenous organisation applauded the inclusion of two of their main demands, while some environmental groups expressed frustration with the joint declaration, saying it is largely a compilation of good intentions with few commitments.
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The summit supports Lula's plan to capitalise on worldwide interest in protecting the Amazon. As a result of a 42 percent decrease in deforestation during his first seven months in office, he has sought financial assistance from other countries to protect the forests.
A region twice the size of India makes up the Amazon. Brazil owns two-thirds of it, and the remaining one-third is split between seven other nations and one territory. Governments have historically treated it with little regard for sustainability or the rights of its Indigenous peoples, viewing it as a region to be colonised and exploited.
The vice president of Venezuela, the prime minister of Guyana, as well as ministers from Ecuador and Suriname are all present at the summit, along with the leaders of Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil.
The Paris Climate Agreement, which mandates that signatories set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, has been ratified by every nation. However, there hasn't been much cross-border cooperation in the past due to a lack of government involvement, a lack of trust, and ideological differences.
The ACTO members showed on Tuesday that they aren't entirely in agreement on important issues despite meeting for the first time in the organization's 45-year history.
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Uneven commitments have been made to forest protection. Additionally, contrary to what some had hoped, there was no shared commitment to achieve zero deforestation by 2030 in the "Belem Declaration," the conference's official declaration released on Tuesday. That commitment has already been made by Brazil and Colombia.
Greenpeace, The Nature Conservancy, and The Climate Observatory, a network of numerous environmental and social organisations, bemoaned the declaration's lack of specific commitments