Amazon Summit: New Declaration Lacks Common Goal To 'End Deforestation,' Say Activists

As the two-day Amazon Summit came to an end in Brazil's Belem, ministers and leaders from eight countries signed a declaration to protect tropical rainforests.

However, the summit saw no concrete commitments or shared goals.

The "Belem declaration," signed Tuesday, laid out plans for the economic development of the Latin American countries and also for preventing Amazon's demise "from reaching a point of no return," according to the AP News.

Several climate activists found the declaration lacking strong measures "when the planet is melting," BBC reported.

International non-governmental organization World Wildlife Fund said it was important to note that the leaders of the Latin American countries have listened to the "science and understood the call of society - the Amazon is in danger, and we do not have much time to act."

But, the group regrets that the Amazonian countries have "not reached a common point to end deforestation in the region."

The "Belem Declaration" did not mention a commitment to ensure zero deforestation by 2030, neither did they reach a conclusion regarding a deadline to end illegal gold mining.

Marcio Astrini of the environmental lobby group Climate Observatory pointed out the planet was melting, and "we are breaking temperature records every day," Al Jazeera reported.

Astrini added in a scenario like this, "It is not possible that, in a scenario like this, eight Amazonian countries are unable to put in a statement – in large letters – that deforestation needs to be zero."

"The 113 operating paragraphs of the declaration have the merit of reviving the forgotten Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and recognize that the biome is reaching a point of no return, but doesn't offer practical solutions or a calendar of actions to avoid it," the Climate Observatory said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Indigenous leader Fany Kuiru, who was part of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, commended the summit for bringing into effect two of their requests, which include a right to participate in the ACTO and acknowledgement of rights to traditional territories, AP News reported.

Apart from representatives from Brazil, leaders from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Venezuela and Suriname attended the summit.

The nations, which are members of the ACTO, hope that by being united, they will have a strong voice in global environment talks before the COP 28 climate conference, which will be held in November. The ACTO was set up in 1995, and this is the first summit in 14 years for the group.

The leaders of the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and France's ambassador to Brazil, representing the Amazonian territory of French Guiana, and an emissary from Indonesia's president also attended the summit.

Apart from signing the declaration, the South American leaders also slammed the developed nations' failure to provide promised vast climate financing.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has been making efforts to preserve the Amazon, railed against "protectionist measures poorly disguised as environmental concern" that restrict imports from developing countries.

He stressed that nature, which industrial development polluted for 200 years, is in "need of money," and "needs them to pay their part so we can revive part of what was ruined."