Rio de Janeiro [Brazil], August 10:The eight nations that share the Amazon basin have come under fire for a joint declaration agreed at their summit in Brazil, with critics saying it falls short of what is needed to protect the world's largest rainforest.
There is an "awareness of the urgent need for regional cooperation to avoid the point of no return in the Amazon," the document said.
The delegations agreed to create an alliance to combat deforestation, but failed to set binding targets and left the goals up to each country.
A joint air traffic control system against organized crime and better cooperation in the fields of science, finance and human rights were also promised in the declaration which was released late Tuesday.
"The summit addressed the right issues but did not deliver what society, the private sector and academia expect: a set of concrete short- and medium-term actions that can change the current course," Marcelo Furtado, the co-founder of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate Forest and Agriculture, told Brazilian news portal G1.
The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) gathered leaders from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela for a meeting in Belem, the Brazilian port called the gateway to the Amazon River.
The summit's host, Brazil, has both the biggest responsibility and burden to take
care of the Amazon, as 60 percent of the rainforest is in
Brazil.
At the start of the meeting on Tuesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said it had "never been more urgent" to preserve the Amazon.
The goal of the meeting is to reconcile environmental protection with sustainable economic development and job creation, he said.
Beyond deforestation, the summit also did not fix a deadline on ending illegal gold mining, although leaders agreed to cooperate on the issue and to better combat cross-border environmental crime.
The final joint statement, called the Belem Declaration, strongly asserted indigenous rights and protections, while also agreeing to cooperate on water management, health, common negotiating positions at climate summits, and sustainable development.
Since taking office earlier this year, Lula has made strong pledges to get Amazon deforestation down to zero by 2030, but other countries in the region have not set such ambitious goals.
The Amazon is an essential carbon sink, boasting the ability to soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide - a decisive function in the international fight against climate change.
Source: Qatar Tribune