With the leadership of Brazil President Lula Da Silva Amazonian countries are meeting in Belem to discuss action to halt the slow collapse of the great Amazon Rainforest. Member nations of the Amazon Cooperation Treat Organization have met only three times before. Lula told participants that resuming and expanding cooperation has never been more urgent. The Amazon Basin stretches over an area twice the size of India, two thirds of which lies in Brazil. Seven countries and one territory (French Guiana) share the remaining third.
All the nations involved have signed the Paris Climate Accords, but action beyond that has been insignificant, meanwhile destruction of the forest has turned it from a carbon sink into a net emitter of carbon dioxide pollution. Crime is also a problem since remote, forested borders are not routinely enforced with cooperation between states. Murders in Amazon towns are sometimes double or triple national averages. Drug traffickers have expanded their operations into land clearance and gold mining. One conference attendee, Peru, wants to see action on this subject as well as environmental matters.
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| photo credit: AP |
This is Lula's second attempt to form a cooperative around forest protection. The first one, in 2009 failed. So far protection commitments have been slow to appear. Only Brazil and Columbia have pledged to stop deforestation by 2050. Scientists have warned that the forest will reach a tipping point when 20-25% of the forest is destroyed. The resulting drastic drop in rainfall will turn the forest into sahvanna with immense biodiversity loss. Indigenous leaders including Raoni Metuktire are also speaking out, with similar predictions of disaster if action is not taken immediately to protect the forest from more exploitation. Despite previous efforts at cooperation like the 2018 Leticia Pact, little regional effort has occurred.
Lulu hopes that the participants will sign the "Belem Declaration" committing themselves to preserving 80% of the forest. It is a goal that can be reached. Lula's government has achieved a 42% drop in deforestation during his first seven months in office, created
six indigenous territories, and pledged fourteen more. Other rainforest nations, European countries funding Amazon protection programs have joined numerous indigenous peoples to swell conference attendance to 24,000. Where there is a will, there is a way.
