Colombia proposes an end to mining in the Amazon by 2030 – 7/8/2023 – Environment

The government of Colombia, host country of a meeting for diplomatic negotiations on an agreement to protect the Amazon, has proposed that the Amazonian countries end the illegal exploitation of minerals in the biome by 2030 and that new oil exploration projects in the region not be carried out. . Colombia has also proposed zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.

The proposals placed by the Colombians on the negotiating table are discussed by diplomatic representatives of the eight countries that make up ACTO (Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization): Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador and Bolivia.

They participate in meetings in Leticia, a Colombian city next to Tabatinga (AM), a Brazilian municipality on the upper Solimões River. The region is on the triple border of Brazil with Colombia and Peru.

Of the proposals made by the Colombians, Brazil had already committed to ending deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.

In the case of illegal mining, the Lula government (PT) promised to act to remove invaders from indigenous lands, with actions concentrated in the first months in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, where a public health emergency was declared in January. Garimpos are still active in other territories, after an explosion of invasions during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

The intention to explore for oil in the Amazon, however, caused a crisis between government sectors and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, commanded by Marina Silva (Rede). Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), linked to the portfolio, denied Petrobras’ request for a license to explore oil at the mouth of the Amazon River.

Diplomatic representatives in Leticia are conducting negotiations on the joint declaration to be adopted at the Amazon Summit, scheduled to take place on August 8 and 9, in Belém (PA). The summit should bring together the presidents of ACTO countries. The meeting in Leticia has been working as a preview of what will be discussed at the summit in Brazil.

In addition to the diplomatic negotiations, a technical-scientific meeting on the Amazon, organized by the Colombian government, has been held in Leticia since last Wednesday (5). The meeting brings together researchers, indigenous leaders and third sector organizations.

This Saturday (8), the results of the meeting will be presented to the Ministers of the Environment of the eight member countries of ACTO.

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, invited Lula to participate in the closing of the technical-scientific meeting this Saturday. Lula accepted the invitation and a meeting between the two presidents is scheduled for late Saturday morning in the Colombian city.

Information about Colombia’s proposal for the Amazon –to eliminate illegal mining by 2030, stop undertaking new oil explorations and eliminate deforestation by 2030– was passed on to the Sheet by the Minister of the Environment of the country, Susana Muhamad.

This Friday night (7), in Leticia, the minister met her counterpart in Brazil, Marina Silva, on which occasion they would talk about the proposal under discussion in the diplomatic sphere.

“The meeting between all countries [da OTCA] it is to arrive at a very fine-tuned joint declaration”, said the Colombian minister. “The voices of those who work in the Amazon are being heard, of those who know the Amazon, such as indigenous peoples and researchers. This will give strength to the presidents declaration [na cúpula em agosto].”

According to Muhamad, the idea is that the meeting in Leticia can generate “minimum consensus”. She said she hoped that the joint statement by the presidents at the summit in August would contain the three proposals put by Colombia on the negotiating table.

“The need for urgent collaboration is very clear. Organized crime permeates the Amazonian countries,” said the minister.

In the case of the Colombian Amazon, deforestation and degradation are mainly associated with land grabbing, in which land is deforested to occupy land; occupation by cattle to launder money from drug trafficking; the cultivation of coca; and illegal gold mining and mercury contamination in the border region with Brazil, according to the Colombian Minister of the Environment.