TRANSCRIPT
Leaders from eight Amazonian nations have met at the Amazon Forest Summit in Belem, Brazil to address the urgent need for conservation.
They've called on the world's industrialised nations to fulfil the as-yet unkept promises to fund developing nations and their battle against climate change.
Heads of State from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela have participated in the two-day summit.
Representatives from rainforest nations in Africa and Southeast Asia were also present, as was the President of Norway, a major contributor to Brazil's Amazon Fund for sustainable development.
Joining the Amazonian nations were the presidents of the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, an envoy from Indonesia's president, and France's ambassador to Brazil, who represented French Guiana's Amazonian territory.
The aim of the summit was to collaborate on strategies for preserving ecologically vital regions, which play a crucial role in mitigating climate change in their respective countries.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says it has been too long since such a summit was held to discuss the issues affecting Amazonian rain forests and those who live within them.
"It has been 14 years since the presidents of our countries met. The Belem Summit comes at a very different time from the previous three meetings, in 1989, 1992 and 2009. Today, denying the climate crisis is just foolishness. But valuing the forest is not just about keeping the trees standing, it means giving dignity to the nearly 50 million people who live in the South American Amazon."
Brazil's president announced two pivotal courses of action.
"We will have two important fronts of action. One of them is to work for the definition of an international concept of socio-bio-economy that allows us to certify forest products and generate employment and income. Another is to create a mechanism to fairly remunerate the environmental services that our forests provide to the world.”
The summit was not solely about conservation.
Mr Lula also voiced a determination to eradicate criminal elements from the forests and ensure the well-being of the people living there.
"In the same way that we are going to fight to secure the forest, we are going to fight hard to expel narco-traffickers, arms dealers, and organised crime from the forests. It is a task that has been taken on here."
The Amazon stretches across an area twice the size of India.
Two-thirds of it lies in Brazil, with seven other countries and the territory of French Guiana sharing the remaining third.
The eight Amazonian nations are members of the newly revived Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, or ACTO, and have expressed hope a united front will give them a major voice in global environment talks ahead of the COP 28 climate conference in November.
At the summit in Brazil, Bolivia's President Luis Arce spoke about deforestation which he says is a looming threat, not only to biodiversity but also to the global climate.
"The Amazon faces several critical challenges that threaten its existence and its role as the lungs of the world. Deforestation in the Amazon has reached alarming levels in recent decades. Millennia-old forests are being devastated at an accelerating rate; ancient trees are being felled illegally and without planning. This is one of the biggest challenges facing the Amazon."
Some scientists say that when 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the forest is destroyed, rainfall will dramatically decline, transforming more than half of the rainforest to a tropical savannah, with immense biodiversity loss.
Bolivia's president explains further.
"The clearing of trees for agriculture, cattle ranching, and mining has led to the loss of millions of hectares of forest. Deforestation of the Amazon threatens not only biodiversity but also the global climate. The rainforest is a powerful climate regulator, making it all the more valuable for absorbing carbon dioxide in this climate crisis."
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro is concerned that water supplies in major cities and small villages would dry up if climate action is not taken immediately.
"All the water in the Andes and the Colombian people drink depends on the rainforest. The jungle's vegetation mass generates the phenomenon of flying rivers, water vapour, which the wind carries to the heights of our Andes and forms the rivers of all South America, the Orinoco, the Amazon, the Rio de la Plata river, the Magdalena, the Cauca. That is where we get the water for our big cities, for our population. Without the Amazon rainforest, there is no water."
During the summit, the Amazonian nations signed a declaration outlining plans to drive economic growth in their countries while preventing the Amazon's ongoing decline from reaching an irreversible state.
Several environmental groups and indigenous advocates expressed frustration with Tuesday's joint declaration, saying it was largely a compilation of good intentions with little in the way of concrete goals and timeframes.
