MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian President wants to create “Amazon NATO” to defend jungle “with weapons”

“It is no longer enough” to reach the goal of “zero deforestation,” Petro insisted

Colombian President Gustavo Petro Urrego Tuesday suggested during his speech at the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) Summit in the Brazilian city of Belém that an international environmental court should be created to prosecute crimes in the area, in addition to an “Amazon NATO” to defend the region “with weapons”.

“If the engine of the Amazon is increasingly illegal and represents a crime against humanity, how do we defend life? With reasons, but also with weapons,” Petro argued. In his view, such a court would be useful to “judge crimes” against the largest rainforest on the planet. In recent years, drug trafficking networks have expanded within the Amazon, along with deforestation, illegal mining, and violence against indigenous people.

Petro recalled that he had already heard the idea of establishing an “environmental justice court” from former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) at a global level, but what he proposes is to limit it to the Amazon countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

He also suggested signing a “military treaty” similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to confront crime in the area and advocated the promotion of a “common scientific research center” in which scientists from the eight ACTO countries would study the tropical forest.

Petro once again spoke against the use of fossil fuels. “Without the Amazon rainforest, we will go to the United States in exodus because: What are the people going to do without water? They leave, it is the logical thing to do,” he said. “Is it possible to maintain a political line of this level? To bet on death and destroy life? Or should we propose something different, which is what I call a decarbonized society?” he wondered. In his opinion, “if the jungle produces oil”, the governments of the region “will be killing humanity” because the ecosystem will cease to be a carbon dioxide “sponge.”

Colombia's first-ever leftwing leader warned that “it is no longer enough” to reach the goal of “zero deforestation” to absorb all the emissions that are released into the atmosphere. “The solution is to stop using oil, coal, and gas,” he insisted.

In his opening speech, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said it was “a joy to welcome the Amazon countries to Brazil, 14 years that our countries did not meet to discuss cooperation between countries. A meeting in the midst of the climate crisis. That is why I announced this Summit even before assuming my third mandate. We will reconcile environmental protection with sustainable economic development.”

“Many people talk about the Amazon and, many times, they have never been there. Now it is the Amazon raising its voice so that the world assumes a commitment to development allied to the preservation of our biome,” Lula added.

The Brazilian president also said he would implement the National Program of Productive Forests to encourage the restoration of degraded areas and food production, based on family farming and traditional communities.

Lula also announced he had sent to Congress the Escazu Agreement, a Latin American and Caribbean instrument that “will help guarantee the rights of environmental defenders and access to information.”

“My government is committed to designing a just transition. We will plan for growth by betting on industrialization and green infrastructure, on socio-bioeconomics, and on renewable energies. Brazil will play a central role in the energy transition, leading the production of clean sources such as solar energy, biomass, ethanol, and green hydrogen,” he also stated.