The Brazilian city of Belém is hosting a two-day conclave bringing together the presidents of eight Amazon nations including Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has organised the conference as part of efforts to reposition his country as a political and environmental trailblazer after four years of Amazon devastation and international isolation under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Lula had said last week that the meeting will seek to draw up a common policy for the first time to protect the rainforest. The leaders of eight Amazon rainforest nations are meeting in this summit to tackle pressing challenges facing the critical ecosystem of Amazon rainforests.
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00:00 The Brazilian city of Belém is hosting a two-day conclave bringing together the presidents
00:09 of eight Amazon nations including Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.
00:15 Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has organized the conference as part
00:19 of efforts to reposition his country as a political and environmental trailblazer after
00:25 four years of Amazon devastation and international isolation under his far-right predecessor
00:31 Jair Bolsonaro.
00:33 Lula had said last week that the meeting will seek to draw up a common policy for the first
00:38 time to protect the rainforest.
00:40 The leaders of eight Amazon rainforest nations are meeting in this summit to tackle pressing
00:44 challenges facing the critical ecosystem of Amazon rainforests.
00:49 Lula da Silva took over as President of Brazil in January this year.
00:53 Under his predecessor, vast tracts of the Amazon fell to make way for mining, cattle
00:58 ranches and soybean farming.
01:00 In 2022 alone, the last year of Bolsonaro's leadership, almost two million hectares of
01:05 forest was lost.
01:06 During his tenure from 2019 to 2022, Bolsonaro's administration weakened regulation and enforcement
01:14 around deforestation, shrinking the budgets of agencies monitoring environmental crimes
01:19 and pushing for laws allowing forests destroying mining or indigenous land.
01:23 But since Lula da Silva took office, deforestation in Brazil's Amazon seems to be slowing down.
01:29 Official figures show a drop of 33.6 percent from January to June compared to the same period
01:35 in 2022.
01:36 Lula da Silva wants to go further and has promised to halt illegal deforestation completely
01:41 in the Amazon by 2030.
01:44 On the eve of the summit, campaigners, indigenous leaders and top politicians poured into Belem
01:49 for a preparatory assembly to discuss ways to protect indigenous territories, save the
01:54 rainforest from a catastrophic tipping point and combat organized crime groups which are
01:58 tightening their grip on the region.
02:01 The Amazon, a massive rainforest twice the size of India that sprawls across eight countries
02:06 and one territory, is a crucial carbon sink, absorbing carbon dioxide emissions which are
02:11 driving the climate crisis.
02:13 Overdeforestation leads to more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and generally means
02:18 reduced rainfall and higher temperatures.
02:20 The Amazon rainforest is one of the world's most important carbon sinks and it absorbs
02:25 massive amounts of carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels.
02:30 Deforestation has been the main threat to the Amazon, particularly in Brazil, which
02:33 is home to about two-thirds of the rainforest.
02:36 The Amazon biome has lost more than 85,000 square kilometers or about 13 percent of its
02:42 original area.
02:44 Scientists fear continuing loss could eventually lead to a tipping point beyond which the majority
02:48 of the ecosystem will become a savannah, and that would be indeed catastrophic for the
02:52 entire world.
02:53 [Music]