Presidents of eight South American nations, home to the Amazon rainforest, are meeting in Belem, Brazil to discuss the protection of the bioregion and address organized crime. The summit is being held by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, a 45-year-old alliance that has rarely met in the past. The Amazon rainforest spans an area twice the size of India, with Brazil being the largest contributor. Presidents from Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, and French Guiana are attending the summit.
The Amazon stretches across an area twice the size of India, and two-thirds of it lies in Brazil. Seven other countries and one territory share the remaining third - Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador and French Guiana. Presidents from all but Ecuador, Suriname and Venezuela are attending.
It’s Lula’s second attempt to form an Amazon bloc. He tried back when the last Amazon summit was held in 2009, during his first presidency, but was joined by only one other president from the region, Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana. Then French President Nicolas Sarkozy also attended. Then as now, the goal was to present a united Amazon during annual climate talks known as COP in Copenhagen. It failed.
- COLOMBIA: Gustavo Petro’s government has laid out a 30-year strategy for reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, and reducing its greenhouse gases by 51%. To face the threat the countries share from organized crime, Lula has already announced that Brazil will create a center for international police cooperation in Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon. The announcement underscored governments’ realization that isolated raids and crackdowns have been ineffective.
Lula said he hopes a “Belem Declaration” - already drafted - will become the nations’ shared call to arms as they move toward the global climate conference in November in Dubai.
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