2023-08-08 16:16:13
The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA)), which brings together all the countries that share the “lungs of the world”, began this Tuesday in Belém do Pará, in the northeast of Brazila delayed meeting that tests the distance between the words and the deeds of its leaders in relation to the weather emergencies. 13 years after the last appointment, everything has worsened as a result of the climate change. Before the start of the meeting of this intergovernmental body created in the late 1960s, there were glimpses common criteria on the defense of forests and disagreements not only within the host government, but among its president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the Colombian Gustavo Petro. The first still believes in the possibilities of the industry of hydrocarbons as the engine of economic activity, while your colleague thinks otherwise.
Beyond this discrepancy, Lula was the promoter of this summit, last year during COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt). What he wants is that Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela “can, for the first time, discuss sovereignly the promotion of the integrated development of the region, with social inclusion y climate responsibility“.
For Lula, the implementation of the ACTO is a signal to the world and, especially the EU, that the era of extreme right has been left behind and that his goals of reaching a zero deforestation in seven years it is possible. As a sign of this willingness, he invited the French president, Emanuel Macron, who finally did not go to Belém do Pará. The shift in Brazil is already materializing in the promise of German and Norwegian donations aimed at preserving the strategic biome.
Before formally beginning the meeting, Lula used the social network X (Twitter) to announce that in the first six months of his third government deforestation has been reduced by 42%. Likewise, the PT leader plans to announce the demarcation of two indigenous territories. When taking stock of his first year in office, Petro assured that only in 2022 Colombia “saved” 40,000 hectares of its foliage in relation to the previous year.
zero deforestation
The draft of the ACTO final document, leaked by environmental NGOs, reflects the goal shared by Brazil and Colombia to make “stress the urgency of agreeing common targets for 2030 in order to fight the deforestation“. For that purpose it is proposed”eradicate and stop the advance of illegal activities extraction of natural resources and promote land use planning approaches and the transition towards sustainable models”. Bolivia, where 8.1% of the total Amazonia is concentrated. Over there 400,000 hectares were lost last year of forests, which represents 32% more than in 2021. Regarding Peru, the hectares lost in 2022 amounted to 144,682. Since 2020, when deforestation hit a horrifying ceiling (203,000 hectares), 14 environmental leaders have been assassinated. Nicolas Maduro He has refrained from traveling to Belém do Pará due to an ear problem. She didn’t have anything good to show off either. The illegal minery wreaks havoc
As to Ecuadorthe days of the president Guillermo Lasso they are numbered Early elections will be held in that country on August 20. His brief tenure was marked by an extensive oil policy. A popular consultation must decide, on the same day of the elections, if the oil reserves of the Amazonian Yasuní are extracted.
Oil, sticking point
and is the Petroleum one of the most difficult axes to agree among the ACTO member states. According to the paulista newspaper Sheetthe inclusion of a moratorium on oil exploration in the Amazon “has been a sticking point” between Brazil and Colombia. “While Petro is in favor of the idea, Lula does not want to make the commitment and proposes that the agreement focus on ending deforestation.” Lula and his Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva. The state-owned Petrobras wants to drill wells in the Foz do Amazonas basin, on the so-called equatorial margin of Brazil. The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, shares that objective. Petrobras has requested permission from the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) to drill into the seabed. The first report from Ibama has been negative. Lula does not want to give up that project. “I’ll tell them they can keep dreaming and I want to keep dreaming too.” Ibama’s conclusions, she remarked, are not definitive. “We are discussing this.” According to Lula, “there is no disagreement in the government, what there is is a natural debate,” said Silveira.
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According to Míriam Leitão, influential columnist of the Rio newspaper The globe, Lula faces an internal crossroads and external repercussions. “You cannot defend the Amazon and, at the same time, support the approval of more pesticides by the rural benchs, amnesty for land grabbing and relaxation of environmental licenses”. In addition, he faces other dilemmas such as the paving of the federal highway that crosses the Amazon, “not to mention the great point of conflict that is oil exploration”.
Beyond these discussions, the ACTO will finalize this Wednesday with its joint document and will bring its conclusions to the United Nations General Assembly in September, as well as the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28), which will take place in December. in United Arab Emirates.
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