The nations of the Amazon rainforest region are currently meeting in Brazil for the first time in 14 years.
The meeting is being held literally in the middle of controversies over the rainforest: the port city of Belém is located near the mouth of the Amazon River, where Brazil is currently considering drilling for oil. The plan has aroused opposition around the world.
The first big news of the meeting was a disappointment in terms of the climate: the states did not reach an agreement on stopping the deforestation of the rainforest by 2030.
The common goal was proposed by the president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has promised to slow down the accelerating destruction of the rainforest. Lula’s predecessor Jair Bolsonaro allowed the expansion of mining, logging, and cattle ranching ever deeper into the rainforest.
In his opening speech, Lula demanded urgent cooperation from the countries of the region.
– We are meeting for the first time in the context of a serious, worsening climate crisis. The challenges and opportunities of our time require joint actions, Lula said.
However, other countries did not want to commit to the schedule.
Contrasting conservation and economic projects
All in all, the meeting has been seen as a disappointment, says the professor of global development studies at the University of Helsinki Markus Kröger.
– No clear regulation was created to prevent Amazonia from reaching a critical tipping point from which there is no return.
The so-called tipping point means a situation where the rainforest begins to turn into savanna and desert at an accelerating rate, and the cycle cannot be stopped. Most of Amazonia is very close to this point.
According to Kröger, Lula is not a pure protector of the Amazon, despite his rhetoric.
– Just before this meeting, he visited another city on the Amazon, and said there that the Amazon cannot become a protected area, but must give wealth to Brazil. In many places, Lula’s economic policy still believes in development, even though the cutting down of the rainforest has now been dramatically reduced.
The most vocal protection advocate at the meeting was the leftist president of Colombia Gustavo Petro, which called for a complete ban on oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Amazon. There was no common support for this proposal either. In addition to Brazil, at least Guyana and Venezuela have new oil projects under development. Bolivia, on the other hand, has large-scale deforestation, and it does not want to intervene in them.
– Many countries in the region have internal friction. Presidents are in a precarious position, power can change and speeches have to be thought through, says Kröger.
Amazonian states demand money for protection
The Amazon rainforest is an exceptionally rich habitat and an important carbon sink that is shrinking every year. Rainforests are cut down in the name of oil, livestock, fodder farming and mining.
The rest of the world demands that the countries of the region protect the rainforest, but on the other hand, it still wants to buy cheap Brazilian meat and Ecuadorian copper. Property rests in the rainforest, and if it has to be left standing, the states of the region think the rest of the world would be allowed to pay more compensation for it.
A common understanding was found on this topic: in a joint statement, the Amazonian countries demand developed countries to fulfill their promises on climate finance and participate in the goal of collecting 200 billion per year in the future.
– At the meeting, the states did not want to take their own responsibility and pushed the responsibility further on the EU and other rich countries. And at the same time, they are still pursuing destructive projects. It’s a dangerous road, says Kröger.
For example, according to Kröger, Brazil’s Lula continues many of Bolsonaro’s problematic projects, such as asphalting roads through the rainforest and legalizing new agricultural pesticides.
Organized crime has taken root in the jungle
Representatives and supporters of the indigenous peoples of the rainforest marched outside the meeting place on Tuesday. They would like official rights to their own living area and guarantees that the land will not be sold to mining and oil companies for destruction.
– I ask the presidents to commit to the protection of the rainforest, said the leader of the Kayapo tribe Raoni Metuktire in an interview with news agency Reuters.
– If the deforestation continues, we will create problems, both for the indigenous peoples and for all people.
International drug cartels and other criminal organizations, which already control part of the Amazonian mining industry, are also fighting for control of the jungle. Violence has increased drastically in recent years.
According to Kröger, the most important issue of the meeting was not the climate, but the safety of the Amazon. The countries agree on cross-border control of organized crime.
– I think the most important thing in the meeting is to prevent the Amazon region from ending up in such a chaotic state like Mexico. Big drug organizations are already laundering money there. The risk is that soon you won’t be able to go there anymore.
Amazonia is threatened by record forest fires
In terms of the climate, the time to act threatens to run out. According to Kröger, next winter the rainforest will be threatened by record fires. The ocean temperatures are already relatively high due to the climate crisis, and the strong El Niño phenomenon during the winter forest fire season makes the situation even worse.
– The Amazon will probably experience much more drought than before. There can be big fires that are difficult to control, says Kröger.
Fires are practically all started by people.
– It should be prevented by all possible means. But when you listen to these leaders’ speeches that the Amazon must be developed, a new oil industry and highways must be built and riches taken, it seems that the situation we are in is not fully understood.
The EU countries could, for their part, influence the fate of the Amazon by, for example, preventing the sale of soy and meat produced in the rainforest here.
However, the EU seems to have a strong desire to be able to trade in the same South American products as, for example, China, Kröger says.
– Large companies in Europe, the United States and China all want to take advantage of these natural resources. Currently, the race between states determines the fate of forests.