Participants include representatives of the Democratic Republics of the Congo, Congo, Indonesia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines -which is temporarily in charge of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC).

In the context of the 4th Amazon Summit, which is on its second and last day in Belém, capital of the state of Pará, Brazil, the parties will examine affinities to begin a process of building coordinated positions that will be brought to multilateral negotiations on environmental issues.

“Brazil, the South American countries that are part of the Amazon, the two Congos, which we invited to come to the meeting, plus Indonesia, are the countries that have vast jungle reserves. (…) We want to tell the world what we want to do with our forest and say what the world can do to help,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said, alluding to multi-million dollar promises to care for the forests made in 2009, and yet to be provided.

The Amazon countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela) agreed on Tuesday, in the Belém Declaration, to establish an alliance to combat deforestation among States and to invigorate cooperation.

The coalition has “the objective of promoting regional cooperation in the fight against deforestation and preventing the Amazon from reaching the point of no return, acknowledging and promoting compliance with national goals, including those of zero deforestation,” through the elimination of illegal logging activity, the strengthened enforcement of forest legislation in the States, sustainable forest management, and integrated fire management to reduce forest fires.

In her speech on Tuesday, ACTO Secretary General Maria Alexandra Moreira said that the Belém Declaration “is a strong and daring commitment, with a comprehensive vision that has sought to understand the Amazon in its broadest dimension as a biome with complex interconnections.”

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