The city of Belém do Pará, Brazil, recently concluded the Amazon Dialogues of Organized Civil Society. This event serves as a prelude to the Summit of Amazon Presidents 2023, which is set to commence today and extend until August 9th.
Starting from August 4th, the capital of the Amazon region has played host to numerous social movements originating from various corners of the region. These movements have congregated to deliberate on matters pertaining to the reinforcement of safeguards for indigenous Amazonian communities, the rights of workers, and the preservation of the biome.
More than 400 indigenous communities hailing from the eight countries constituting the Amazon (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela) have unified their demands, proposals, and strategies that have emerged from these days of discussions. The intention is to present these points to the Presidents of the Amazonian Countries during the upcoming Summit scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. The focal point of these deliberations is the Indigenous Working Class, along with the Proletariat and Peasantry, all of whom are steadfastly tied to ancestral principles that guide the future. These diverse populations have each pioneered their own interpretations of green economies, agro-ecology, and other academic concepts.
Leaderships and authorities express their unwavering commitment to invest in the well-being of native and traditional peoples, underscoring that this investment is indispensable for achieving equilibrium and preserving our shared humanity.
Within the organizations, a committee representing the Pan-Amazonian Social Forum (FOSPA) has announced the roster of demands to be presented during the upcoming Summit of Presidents. These demands encompass a range of issues, including ensuring complete legal and physical security for the collective property of indigenous territories, designating the Amazon as a climate emergency zone, halting the expansion of the agricultural frontier, holding accountable those responsible for the displacement and dispossession of Amazonian territories, and conferring the status of rights-bearing entities upon the rivers, lagoons, lakes, and aquatic systems of the Amazon.
Belém do Pará is regarded as the “gateway” to northern Brazil and serves as the primary entry point to the Amazon due to its strategic location at the mouth of the Amazon River. It ranks among the ten largest and most influential cities in Brazil.
The city will assume the central role as the host of the Summit of Amazonian Presidents on August 8 and 9. During this event, the leaders of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela will convene to “reaffirm” the principles outlined in the Amazon Cooperation Treaty of 1978. For the Amazonian peoples, as well as their respective nationalities, organizations, and social movements, the Summit of Amazonian Presidents presents a significant opportunity to bring their concerns and alternative proposals to the forefront of the discussion agenda.
On August 8, President Lula is set to welcome the Amazonian Presidents for a meeting, and on the 9th, a larger gathering is scheduled to take place involving other countries from the Global South with jungles, namely the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Africa, as well as Indonesia from Asia.
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During the preceding month in Leticia, Colombia, a plenary session transpired, attended by Gustavo Petro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, representatives from the governments of Brazil and Colombia, the Ministers of Environment of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Perú Suriname and Venezuela, the European Union, civil society, and academia. The proceedings culminated in a series of discussions and agreements.
Álvaro Leiva, Colombia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, extended a warm welcome to the participants and underscored the importance of incorporating the perspectives of the Amazon’s inhabitants into the formulation of an agenda to benefit the region. He emphasized the imperative of forming a unified front and championing environmental integrity to safeguard the Amazon. The Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister explicitly articulated the necessity to “cherish our Amazon, our Common Home.”
From the perspective of organized civil society, the conclusions derived from the technical-scientific meeting held on July 7th have been unveiled. These conclusions have placed emphasis on specific actions that need to be undertaken. These actions include ensuring access to clean water as a means to attain food security, approaching resource management with a blend of scientific insight and ancestral wisdom, democratizing the knowledge possessed by indigenous communities and facilitating its integration into the decision-making processes.
Civil society organizations have underscored the necessity of envisioning sustainability over the long term, illustrating this with concepts like the bond economy. Furthermore, there has been discussion about establishing a fund aimed at injecting resources into the Amazon, thereby addressing the creation of a future-oriented perspective and a comprehensive set of requisites for the Biome.
Conversely, it has been firmly established that governments should actively involve local and departmental authorities as well as indigenous governance structures in the management of resources. The organizations have extended an invitation to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) to formalize mechanisms that would enable continuous participation.
The Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) has appealed for the effective safeguarding of 80% of the Amazon and has advocated for the inclusion of indigenous peoples through processes of prior consultation and other democratic forums. The plenary session has also served to uphold the Escazú Agreement and extol the concept of bioeconomy as a viable alternative to deforestation.
In her address, Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, reiterated the central goal of averting the critical juncture referred to as the “point of no return,” emphasizing it as the core of the Amazon Summit. Muhamad’s added, “We need an economy and ways of life that regenerate the forest and do not destroy it.”
In her concluding remarks, Susana Muhamad unequivocally emphasized the necessity of harmonizing scientific knowledge with the ancestral wisdom of the Amazon’s inhabitants. Furthermore, she issued a call for collaborative efforts aimed at conserving the forests.
During his speech, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, the President of Brazil, addressed several crucial aspects, including:
Lula made it clear that a new ACTO will emerge from the Belém summit, incorporating representatives from local communities and organizations. This newly established space will amalgamate the academic research processes with the invaluable knowledge held by the Amazon’s inhabitants. Concluding his speech, President Lula expressed gratitude to the Colombian commission for spearheading the advancement of the technical-scientific arena.
In the final segment of the plenary, Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, emphasized that the pledges made during the COP gatherings in Paris and Copenhagen have fallen short of fulfillment. He firmly asserted that the harm inflicted upon the jungle equates to harm inflicted upon humanity itself, highlighting that “the planet is in constant flux and maintains its own equilibrium.” President Petro underlined unequivocally that “defense of the Amazon is a defense of life.”
Last month, following the events in Leticia, both the CELAC-EU Summit and La Cumbre de Los Pueblos took place in Brussels, Belgium. These gatherings featured impactful speeches by Presidents Gustavo Petro, Lula Da Silva, and Luis Arce, as well as by Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, and Venezuela’s Chancellor, Iván Gil.
The Cumbre de Los Pueblos witnessed active participation from numerous social movements and left-wing parties worldwide. It served as a platform for workshops, conferences, and a variety of events. A unanimous denouncement was voiced against the Illegal Genocidal Sanctions and Blockades imposed on Cuba, Nicaragua, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
During the CELAC-EU Summit, the 33 member countries of CELAC called out Europe for what they perceived as hypocrisy and double standards in denouncing human rights violations in Ukraine. They highlighted Europe’s history of multiple interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as their imposition of punitive and genocidal sanctions on Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The CELAC also emphasized that Europe has not fulfilled its commitments and obligations regarding the Climate Crisis and the Amazon region.
The upcoming gathering of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union is slated to convene in Bogotá, Colombia, in the year 2025, under the presidency of Gustavo Petro. Ahead of this, Petro arrived in Brussels with a proposition aimed at decarbonizing trade. He elaborated, “The European side has proposed trade in products free from deforestation in their production. However, deforestation has impacted all agricultural processes. This should not be the sole criterion for trade. The focal point should be the carbon footprint.” Petro further articulated that the prevalent capitalist notion of wealth measured by carbon consumption needs to be replaced by the concept of decarbonized social prosperity.
These recent events have underscored the unity prevailing among the CELAC members as they position themselves on a higher ground within the context of the Multipolar World.
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