MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Amazonia Summit countries pass Bogotá Declaration

The document provides for coordinated joint environmental actions

Leaders of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela on Friday approved the Bogotá Declaration, a document that establishes a unified position for COP30, scheduled for November 10-21 in Belém do Pará, Brazil.

This summit, led by Presidents Gustavo Petro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Luis Arce Catacora, together with Ecuadorean Vice President María José Pinto, marks a milestone in regional cooperation to preserve the world's largest tropical forest.

The Bogotá Declaration commits Amazonian countries to intensifying actions to comply with the Paris Agreement, limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In addition, it supports the Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), an initiative that seeks to finance the conservation of tropical forests.

This fund, led by Brazil, will mobilize resources from governments and private entities to prevent the Amazon from reaching the point of no return.

Senior officials also held private bilateral meetings and engaged in dialogue with indigenous leaders, who demanded that promises be turned into concrete actions to save the world's largest tropical forest.

Additionally, a police cooperation center, set to begin operations in September, will coordinate joint regional efforts.

The summit featured regional dialogues with indigenous leaders, scholars, and civil society, led by former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. These voices demanded concrete actions to protect indigenous peoples in isolation and guarantee the human right to drinking water. The agreements underscore the need to integrate ancestral knowledge into public policies.