The Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, said this Sunday (6th) that there is an understanding among the presidents of the countries that make up the Amazon Cooperation Treaty that the forest cannot be allowed to reach the so-called “point of no return”.
This point is the moment when, due to deforestation, degradation and climate change, the Amazon may not recover, initiating a process in which it ceases to be a rainforest and becomes another ecosystem.
According to Marina, this is a theme that the chief executives of the eight countries in the treaty have a common understanding.
“We will no longer have to work individually, but jointly, in a regional effort to help each other to achieve better results, the protection of the forest, biodiversity, native peoples, in the establishment of a partnership that takes us to another cycle of prosperity”, stated.
The statement was made in an interview with journalists alongside the ministers of the Environment of Peru, Albina Ruiz Rios, and of Colombia, Susana Muhamad. The three participated earlier in a plenary session at the “Diálogos Amazônicos”, in Belém. The event precedes the Amazon Summit, which begins on Monday (7).
The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) comprises Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. In addition to representatives of these nations, the Amazon Summit will bring together representatives of authorities from Europe, Asia and Africa.
At the end of the meeting, the Amazonian countries will sign the “Declaration of Belém”. The document will serve to establish a common agenda for regional cooperation in favor of sustainable development in the region.
Marina Silva stated that it is only up to the presidents of the countries in the agreement to define the points that will be included in the declaration. She highlighted that it is a multilateral process, and that “progressive consensuses” will be adopted.
“Each country has its dynamics, its proposals and, obviously, in multilateralism there is no imposition of looking from one country to another”, he declared. “There is the establishment of progressive consensus without prejudice to each country being able to defend its thesis within the organization itself”.
“We, Ministers of the Environment, make our contribution, but what comes out is always a weighted average”, he said.
See also: Amazon Summit: It is clear which countries will commit, says Carlos Nobre to CNN
According to the minister, the objective being sought is the establishment of new consensuses between the countries, in order to be able to “achieve advances that are structuring”.
“We have to discuss which development model we want for our region. What type of funding, the quality of funding we want, the infrastructure we want”.
Marina also defended the reduction of interest rates to strengthen investment in ecological transition initiatives, after criticizing the previous government, of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
“There were four years of social and environmental policy blackouts and an erratic economic policy,” he said. “Now Brazil is going to grow, it is starting to reduce inflation, it will necessarily have to reduce interest rates so that we can make the investments in the ecological transition that we can do, and contribute to the balance of the planet.”
The “Amazonian Dialogues” end this Sunday (6). The initial expectation was to bring together more than 10,000 people in different debates to support the creation of policies and strategies for the Amazon region.
Representatives of entities, social movements, academics, research centers and government agencies from Brazil and other Amazonian countries will participate in the meeting: Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador and Suriname.
The proposal is that these discussions be transformed into reports that will be delivered to the heads of state and government, and representatives of the 15 countries participating in the Amazon Summit, which will take place between the 8th and 9th, also in the capital of Pará.
Source: CNN Brasil
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