Brazil is set to host the upcoming Amazon summit where global leaders would discuss how to address the various challenges facing the critical ecosystem.
The summit would include representatives hailing from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. It will be a two-day meeting between members of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and is set to begin on Tuesday in the northern Brazilian city of Belem.
Brazil To Host Amazon Summit
The meeting comes only a few months after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office and committed to ending deforestation of the Amazon rainforest by 2030. It came as the ecosystem has faced years of destruction and largely unchecked development under former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Last week, Lula da Silva said that the Amazon summit will aim to draw up a common policy for the first time in an attempt to protect the rainforest. In a statement, he said that he has high expectations for the meeting to agree on policies for preservation, security, and borders, as per Aljazeera.
The summit comes as the Amazon rainforest is considered to be a crucial ecosystem that is twice the size of India and spans eight countries and one territory. It has the benefit of being a carbon sink as it absorbs carbon dioxide emissions that are responsible for driving the climate crisis.
A researcher for Brazil's National Institute of Space Research, atmospheric chemist Luciana Gatti, said that deforestation results in more greenhouse gasses in the planet's atmosphere and generally means there is reduced rainfall and higher temperatures. She said that deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is accelerating climate change.
Gatti is the co-author of a study that was published in the journal Nature which discovered that the heavily deforested eastern Amazon has stopped functioning as a carbon absorber and is now simply a carbon source.
Addressing Threats to the Rainforest
The European Union has also pressured Amazon countries to rein in deforestation or be subjected to trade restrictions. The latter must now figure out a way to bring prosperity to the region without damaging the rainforest even further, according to Politico.
Lula da Silva's attempt to have agreed policies to address the threat to the Amazon rainforest comes as countries are divided on whether or not they should commit to a zero deforestation goal and on whether or not oil and gas drilling should be banned.
Additionally, the EU is rolling out new rules to ban commodities imports that drive deforestation abroad and is urging countries to police their own supply chains against environmental and human rights violations.
In a statement, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that it was essential to phase out fossil fuels to protect the Amazon rainforest. He argued that even if deforestation is controlled, the Amazon rainforest is still at risk if global heating continues to rise.
The situation comes as deforestation is the biggest threat to the rainforest as the Amazon has lost more than 85 million hectares. Most of this damage has come in the last half-century and Brazil, which is home to two-thirds of the ecosystem, is considered to be the main culprit, said the Associated Press.