Speech by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the Amazon Summit with guest countries in Belem, Brazil
Participating in this meeting on this highly symbolic date, on which we welcome our special guests, is a great joy. Today we celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, established by the United Nations in 1995.
Following the excellent Summit of Amazon Countries held yesterday, we now have the privilege of conferring with other countries that harbor tropical rainforests and partner countries and organizations.
I want to begin by talking not about forests but about a single tree.
A majestic tree that is so very well known by those who live in Belem.
To us, Brazilians, this tree is called a sumaúma tree.
Although with different names, it can be found across all Amazon countries – and in all countries harboring tropical rainforests that are represented here.
In Bolivia, it is called mapajo; in Ecuador, ceibo; in Guyana, kumaka.
In the Congo Basin, it is known as fromager, while in Indonesia, it is called kapok.
The sumaúma tree is a symbol of the bond that unites us.
We are aware of the expectations on our shoulders regarding the potential of tropical rainforests.
But our forests will not create solutions to climate change if they cannot create solutions for those who live in them.
Combating deforestation and strengthening supervision and repression of environmental crime are crucial measures, but they are not enough in the face of existing challenges.
In Brazil, the municipalities with the most deforestation are those with the worst health, sanitation, education, food security, and violence rates.
They are also the ones with the highest inequality rates.
Poverty is an obstacle to sustainability.
We need a vision of sustainable development that places people at the center of public policies and launches a cycle of prosperity based on standing forests.
This summit is the starting point for our Amazon and other tropical rainforests to once and for all stop being seen as a problem but as a solution.
The products of socio-biodiversity will generate jobs and income and offer alternatives to the predatory exploitation of natural resources.
It is by combining economic activity with preservation that we will reduce the pressure on native vegetation.
It is by valuing local cultures that we will promote sustainable tourism.
It is by reviving traditional knowledge that we are going to encourage cutting-edge research and science.
And it is by transforming cities into centers of innovation that we will add value to forest products and leverage technological development.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Scientific evidence confirms that the current pace of greenhouse gas emissions will lead to an unprecedented climate crisis.
The last month of July was the hottest in recorded history, and wildfires have spread across several countries.
The Earth is approaching several points of no return.
Countries in the Amazon, Congo, and Borneo-Mekong basins will act decisively to preserve the world's three largest rainforests.
But one cannot talk about tropical rainforests and climate change without addressing the historical responsibility of developed countries.
It was they who, over the centuries, most squandered natural resources and most polluted the planet.
The wealthiest 10% of the world's population concentrates more than 75% of the wealth and emits almost half of all the carbon released into the atmosphere.
There will be no sustainability without justice.
Nor will there be sustainability without peace.
Military spending, which reached a record 2.2 trillion dollars last year, drains resources the world needs to promote sustainable development.
Faced with these disparities, it is crucial never to lose sight of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
It remains more valid than ever because it reflects equity, justice, action, and ambition.
The financial support, technical-scientific cooperation, and technology transfer obligations established in the 1992 Rio Conventions are not being fulfilled.
Since COP15, the commitment by developed countries to mobilize 100 billion dollars a year in new and additional climate funding has never been implemented.
And this amount of funding no longer corresponds to current needs. The demand for mitigation, adaptation, and losses and damages is increasing.
Those who harbor the world’s largest forest reserves and the most significant biodiversity deserve greater representation.
It is inexplicable that funding mechanisms such as the Global Environment Facility, which emerged in the World Bank, reproduce the exclusionary logic of Bretton Woods institutions.
Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador must share a seat on the Fund's board.
The Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo must share a seat with six other countries.
Indonesia is forced to share a seat with 16 other countries.
Meanwhile, developed countries such as the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden each occupy their own seat.
Addressing the lack of representation is an essential part of a comprehensive and profound proposal for global governance reform that benefits all developing countries.
The environmental and ecosystem services tropical rainforests provide to the world must be reimbursed fairly and equitably.
Our perspective must be considered when negotiating an international socio-bioeconomy concept that allows us to certify products and create opportunities for our populations.
Countries with tropical rainforests inherited a predatory economic model from their colonial past.
A model based on the irrational exploitation of natural resources, slavery, and the systematic exclusion of local populations.
The effects are felt by our countries even today.
We cannot accept a green neocolonialism that, under the pretext of protecting the environment, imposes trade barriers and discriminatory measures – disregarding our regulatory frameworks and domestic policies.
What we need for a leap in quality is long-term, unconditional funding for green infrastructure and industrialization projects.
Reforming the system also requires a lasting solution to the foreign debt that plagues so many developing countries.
During Brazil’s Presidency of the G20 – which will begin on December 1 – we will place sustainable development and the reduction of inequalities at the center of the international agenda.
We have only seven years left to reach the 2030 Agenda Goals.
It's time for our countries to unite. It’s time to wake up to the urgency of climate change.
If we don't act now, we won't reach the goal of preventing the temperature from rising more than one and a half degrees above pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
COP30 — which will also occur here in Belem in 2025 – will be as important a milestone as COP21 in 2015 when the Paris Agreement was adopted.
All countries will present their second round of emission reduction commitments. It may be our last chance to secure a stable climate for Planet Earth.
Brazil will lead by example, inviting everyone to advance together, from Belem to Belem.
I especially want to invite other countries with tropical rainforests to join this effort.
The Joint Declaration that we will adopt today will be the first step towards a joint position at COP28 this year, with a view to COP30.
Alongside our colleagues in Africa and Asia, we can deepen our exchange of experiences concerning rainforest protection and sustainable management.
We can also lead the promotion of rainforest product chains that are free of deforestation and strengthen global actions in favor of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Comrades,
I want to close with the words of a great indigenous thinker from the Amazon: the shaman Davi Kopenawa, one of the leaders of the Yanomami people.
He wrote a beautiful book called The Falling Sky – and one of the things he says is this: “White people don’t dream as far as we do. They sleep a lot, but they only dream of themselves.”
In my speech yesterday, I said an Amazonian dream would be born in Belem.
I am sure that, after this meeting, each one here will be able to dream far away.
Thank you very much.