At the end of the Amazon summit, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urged the rich industrialized countries to keep their financial commitments for climate protection. It’s not about countries like Brazil, Colombia or Venezuela needing money. “Mother Nature needs money because industrial development has destroyed her over the past 200 years,” said Lula in the Brazilian metropolis of Belém.
“We cannot accept green neocolonialism that introduces trade barriers and discriminatory measures under the guise of environmental protection and ignores our national regulations and policies,” said the President of the host country.
The obligations of the industrialized countries mentioned include annual financial support of 0.7 percent of gross domestic product and annual climate protection financing of 100 billion dollars (around 91 billion euros) for developing countries. “That promise was never implemented. And now it no longer meets current needs,” said Lula. So by 2030, $200 billion a year should be due.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the Amazon mountain range in Belém. Picture: Nádia Pontes/DW
In addition to the eight South American states of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela, the invited countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines also signed the declaration. The Amazon, Congo Basin and Southeast Asia are home to the largest rainforests in the world. These ecosystems bind greenhouse gases and are home to an enormous number of different animal and plant species.
First meeting in 14 years
Host Brazil had invited to the first meeting of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA) since 2009. The members of the group – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela – signed a joint declaration on Tuesday in the city of Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon, setting out a roadmap to promote sustainable development, to ending deforestation and fighting organized crime.
Other components included the formation of an Amazon Alliance against deforestation, a joint air traffic control system against organized crime, and closer cooperation in the fields of science, finance and human rights.
However, the attempt to set a common goal to stop deforestation in the Amazon failed. It is now up to each of the eight Amazon countries to decide how to deal with the ongoing destruction of the jungle.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva convened the Amazon Summit to form a common front for rainforest countries at the upcoming World Climate Conference (COP28) later this year. “We’re going to COP28 with the goal of telling the rich world that if they want to conserve the forest, they have to spend money not just on the canopy, but on the people who live under it,” Lula said.
Criticism from environmental organizations and indigenous people
For environmentalists and indigenous groups, however, the resolutions did not go far enough. They had demanded a commitment that Brazil would end illegal deforestation by 2030 and that Colombia would stop drilling for oil. “It’s a first step, but there are no concrete decisions, just a list of promises,” said Marcio Astrini, head of the Climate Observatory, a coalition of non-governmental organizations in Brazil.
Cleared rainforest area in the Brazilian state of Manaus (2022)Image: Bruno Kelly/REUTERS
“The statement does not contain any clear actions to respond to the crisis the world is facing. There are no targets or deadlines for ending deforestation, nor is there any mention of ending oil production in the region should,” said Greenpeace Brazil director Leandro Ramos. “Without these actions, Amazon countries will not be able to change their current predatory relationship with the forest, its biodiversity and its inhabitants.”
The environmental organization WWF was also disappointed with the results of the summit. The countries bordering the Amazon had “definitely missed an opportunity,” said WWF Germany’s Brazil expert, Roberto Maldonado, to broadcaster Phoenix. In the final declaration, no binding specifications were made as to how deforestation could be reduced or stopped altogether.
The “green lung” in danger
The Amazon is considered the “green lung” of the earth. Its rainforest absorbs gigantic amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and thus counteracts global warming. However, scientists warn that the Amazon is nearing a tipping point, after which its trees would die and the stored carbon dioxide would be released back into the atmosphere. This would have catastrophic consequences for the earth’s climate.
A fifth of the Brazilian rainforest has already been destroyed. Brazil, which contains around 60 percent of the Amazon forest, has pledged to eliminate illegal logging by 2030.
mak/AR (dpa, afp, rtr)