Gathered in Brazil, the Amazon countries create an alliance against deforestation

The South American countries of the Amazon have decided to consolidate their efforts against deforestation in the region by forming, on Tuesday August 8, a new alliance at a summit for the preservation of the region, in Belem, in northern Brazil.

The creation of an entity entitled “Amazonian Alliance to Combat Deforestation” is stipulated in a joint declaration signed by Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

This union “aims to promote regional cooperation in the fight against deforestation, to prevent the Amazon from reaching the point of no return”. If this point of no return were reached, the Amazon would emit more carbon than it absorbed, which would aggravate global warming.

But contrary to the expectations of environmental organizations, this joint declaration issued at the end of the first of the two days of the summit does not present any common objective to completely eradicate deforestation, as Brazil has promised to do by here. 2030.

This river document in 113 points lays out in detail the milestones of cooperation between the eight member countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA), to promote sustainable development in this vast region which is home to approximately 10% of the global biodiversity.

“It’s a first step, but there is no concrete decision, it’s just a list of promises”reacted Marcio Astrini, head of the Climate Observatory, a Brazilian collective of NGOs. “While temperature records are broken every day, it is not possible that the leaders of the Amazonian countries are not able to put in black and white in a declaration that deforestation must be reduced to zero”he lambasted.

Do more than talk

The summit opened on the day when the European Copernicus service confirmed that July was the hottest month ever recorded on earth.

“It has never been more urgent to resume and expand our cooperation”Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in his opening speech, referring to a “new amazonian dream”. Earlier in the day, he promised the summit would be “a turning point” in the fight against global warming

His Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro for his part called for the speeches to be translated into concrete actions as soon as possible. “If we are on the brink of extinction, if this is the decade to make decisions, what are we doing, apart from talking? »he launched.

Lula and Gustavo Petro are accompanied to Belem by their counterparts from Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Ecuador, Guyana and Suriname are represented by ministers, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, suffering from an ear infection, was replaced at short notice by his vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez.

The summit in Belem serves as a dress rehearsal for this port city of 1.3 million inhabitants in northern Brazil, which will host the UN climate conference COP30 in 2025. Other non-OCTA countries have been invited to the summit, including France, which has Amazon territory with Guyana and will be represented on Wednesday by its ambassador in Brasília, Brigitte Collet.

“It is urgent to put an end to deforestation”French President Emmanuel Macron said on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, calling “to protect vital reserves of carbon and biodiversity, for the benefit of forest countries, their populations and the whole world”.

Protests for an “oil-free Amazon”

Returning to power in January, Lula pledged to end deforestation by 2030, which had risen sharply under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Deforested land is often turned into pasture for livestock, but destruction is also caused by gold miners and timber traffickers.

But Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the “zero deforestation” would be “insufficient”. “Science has shown us that even if we cover the whole world with trees, it will not be enough to absorb CO2 emissions (…). We must abandon fossil fuels”, he insisted. According to him, this responsibility is above all “northern countries”while ” We [les pays amazoniens ] have to protect the sponge”as he describes the rainforest.

But this energy transition is a more sensitive subject for major hydrocarbon producers in the Amazon region, such as Venezuela or Brazil. This issue was also discussed last weekend, during a meeting of civil society representatives in Belem entitled “Amazonian Dialogues”, with demonstrations calling for a “Oil Free Amazon”.

These slogans reappeared on Tuesday, during a procession that gathered around 1,500 people in the streets of Belem, including indigenous activists, who held up banners with messages like “We have been here forever”.

On Wednesday, the summit will continue with the participation of non-OTCA member countries invited to Belem, such as France, but also Germany and Norway, main donors of the Amazon Fund. Indonesia, the Republic of Congo and Congo-Brazzaville, which are home to vast rainforests in other continents, have also been invited.