Amazon Summit ends without much progress and with criticism from NGOs

The Amazon Summit ended this Wednesday (9) without much progress or specific targets to reduce deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

The 113 objectives and principles contained in the Declaration of Belém, signed at the end of the event by the eight signatory countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACTO) were criticized by non-governmental entities that followed the debate held in Belém (PA).

According to Greenpeace Brasil, which participated in the Amazonian Dialogues and accompanied the Amazon Summit, the document with the commitments “fails by not establishing targets and deadlines for deforestation and the end of oil exploration in the region”. According to Greenpeace Brasil program director, Leandro Ramos, the Declaration of Belém does not bring clear measures to respond to the urgency of the crises that the world has been facing.

For the Climate Observatory, the final document does not offer practical solutions and a calendar of actions to avoid threats to the Amazon biome. The entity also criticizes the lack of mention of a possible phase out of fossil fuels. “The document lacked forcefulness. It is a wish list, and the wishes are not enough”, says Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory.

At the end of the event, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva praised the Declaration of Belém and said that the document brings together very concrete initiatives to face the challenges shared by the eight countries. “The Declaration of Belém and the joint communiqué that we adopted in these two days of Summit are a step in the construction of a common agenda with developing countries with tropical forests. And they will pave our way to COP30, when we will be back here in Belém”, he said.

Lula also assumed the commitment to “expel” drug trafficking and organized crime from the Amazon, at the end of the event when talking to journalists. “We are going to put more Federal Police to take care of our border and we are going to make agreements with all border countries. In the same way that we are going to fight to guarantee the forest, we are going to fight to expel drug traffickers, arms traffickers and organized crime”, she said.

For Greenpeace Brazil, which participated in the Amazonian Dialogues and accompanied the Amazon Summit, the document with the commitments of the Amazonian governments after the meeting fails to establish goals and deadlines for deforestation and the end of oil exploration in the region. According to the program director of Greenpeace Brazil, Leandro Ramos, the Declaration of Belém does not bring clear measures to respond to the urgency of the crises that the world has been facing.