Amazon rainforest | The scramble to save the planet’s lungs

Subject : Environment

Section: Ecosystem

Context:

The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) meeting was held in Belem do Para, Brazil.

Details:

Countries include: Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French Guiana.
The outcome of this meeting was the “Belem declaration”, which called for cooperation between the countries to ensure the survival of the humongous Amazon rainforest, that constitutes a significant portion of these countries, by conserving its biodiversity and natural resources.

Belem declaration:

It called for the advancement of debt-for-climate action, financed by developed countries.
It promised concerted efforts to arrest deforestation by illegal mining and logging, bring about integrated fire management, besides law enforcement for protecting the rights of Indigenous people inextricably linked to the rainforest ecosystem.
It called for inviting development banks in the region to work together by pooling funds into a green coalition and which shall provide for conservation and employment and income opportunities for poorer people linked to the Amazon’s economy.
Drawbacks:
- It does not clarify the goals such as the protection of 80% of the forest from deforestation and degradation (as proposed by Colombia) or zero deforestation by 2030.
‘United for Our Forests’ declaration:
- In this declaration the governments of these countries reaffirmed the imperatives from the previous declaration related to arresting deforestation and the need for sustainable economic practices to go with environmental protection.

Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO):

Established: 25 February 1995
Headquarters:Brasília, Brazil
The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) is an international organization aimed at the promotion of sustainable development of the Amazon Basin.
The Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) was signed on 3 July 1978 and amended in 1998.
Group members — Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

Amazon rainforests:

The Amazon rainforest or Amazonia constitutes close to 1.3% of the planet’s surface and 4.1% of the earth’s land surface, but as a biome, the Amazon is host to 10% of the world’s wildlife species and some more, as we are still discovering new species in this epic mass of life in Latin America.
Some of the species found in the Amazon are not found anywhere else.
The Amazon itself is the largest river by volume of water in the world, draining from Iquitos in Peru, across Brazil and discharging into the Atlantic ocean.
Countries with amazon rainforests: 60% of it is in Brazil, 13% is in Peru, 8% in Bolivia, 7% and 6% respectively in Colombia and Venezuela, and nearly 3% each in Guyana and Suriname and around 1% in French Guiana and Ecuador.
Ecological contributions:
- In all, by storing around 76 billion tonnes of carbon, the Amazon rainforest helps stabilise the world’s climate.
- Moisture from the Amazon is responsible for rainfall for many parts of Latin America, contributing to agriculture, storage of water in urban reservoirs as well.

Deforestation in Amazon rainforests:

The carbon emissions from the Amazon increased by 117 percent in 2020 compared to the annual average for 2010 to 2018.
Deforestation is pushing it dangerously close to a “tipping point”, beyond which trees would die off and release their carbon stores back into the atmosphere, with catastrophic consequences for the climate.
Brazil, which holds around 60 percent of the Amazon, has pledged to eradicate illegal deforestation by 2030.
Deforestation has already wiped out around one-fifth of the rainforest.
Savannization:
If 20% or 25% of the forest is destroyed, the forest will enter a process of savannization and that would represent the death of the forest.

Way forward:

Countries can emulate the European Union’s law that requires EU-based companies to ensure their imports are “deforestation-free”.