Brazil’s Amazon Summit Disagrees On Deforestation
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BELEM, BRAZIL (Worthy News) – Brazil’s Amazon Summit concluded Wednesday with a pledge to end the Amazon’s ongoing demise “from reaching a point of no return” but without a regional agreement on ending deforestation.
A joint declaration issued Tuesday in the Brazilian city of Belem created an alliance for combating forest destruction but left countries to pursue their own deforestation goals.
The failure of the eight Amazon countries to agree on a pact to protect their forests was a disappointment for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
He had been pushing for the region to unite behind a standard policy of ending deforestation by 2030 amid concerns about fires raging out of control.
Unlike wildfires in Europe or the United States, fires do not occur naturally in the humid, tropical Amazon rainforest, often seen as the lungs of the world, experts say.
Instead, farmers cut down the forests and set trees on fire to clear land, and sometimes these fires are difficult to extinguish.
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS
Several environmental groups described the declaration as a compilation of good intentions with little in the way of measurable goals and timeframes.
However, others praised it, and Amazon’s umbrella organization of Indigenous groups celebrated, including two of its main demands.
“It is significant that the leaders of the countries of the region have listened to the science and understood the call of society: the Amazon is in danger, and we do not have much time to act,” the international group WWF said in a statement.
“However, WWF regrets that the eight Amazonian countries, as one front, have not reached a common point to end deforestation in the region,” the group added.
Joining the summit, Wednesday were the presidents of the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, an emissary from Indonesia’s president, and France’s ambassador to Brazil, representing the Amazonian territory of French Guiana.
An emissary of Norway, the most significant contributor to Brazil’s Amazon Fund for sustainable development, also attended.
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