Brazil hosts international meetings to discuss future of the Amazon

At the beginning of this month, Brazil is going to host two of the world’s most important meetings to discuss the future of the Amazon rainforest and the planet. The Amazon Dialogues, which will take place in Belém (in the state of Pará) between August 4 and 6, will present suggestions and solutions to face the main challenges of the rainforest and its peoples. The result of the discussions will be presented to the leaders of all the Amazon countries, that will participate in the Amazon Summit, in the same place, on August 8 and 9.

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The reports will be delivered to the presidents by representatives of the Amazon civil society, and will present the entire reality that is being faced by indigenous people, riverside people, women, black people, and young people in these more than 7 million square kilometers covered by the largest tropical forest on Earth”

Márcio Macêdo, Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency

Certain that sustainable development in the region is essential to fighting the global climate crisis, representatives of the governments of the eight Amazon countries will gather with social movements and civil society organizations in plenary sessions to discuss solutions to the main issues referring to preservation of the forest and the survival of those who live in it.

The documents resulting from the Dialogues will be delivered to the presidents of the Amazon countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. The heads of State will define priorities to be carried out to other forums such as the UN General Assembly and COP-28.

The Dialogues’ official program will harbor a set of eight plenary sessions – five syntheses and three transversal – to deal with issues such as climate change; agroecology and socio-bioeconomy in the region; protection of the territory and its peoples; eradication of enslaved labor conditions; health; sovereignty; food security; and research and development to study the future of the rainforest, among others. More than ten thousand people are expected to attend.

In addition to the plenary sessions, a set of 405 activities organized by social movements, entities or public and private organizations participating in the event will occur.

“The reports will be delivered to the presidents by representatives of the Amazon civil society, and will present the entire reality that is being faced by indigenous people, riverside people, women, black people, and young people in these more than 7 million square kilometers covered by the largest tropical forest on Earth,” explained Márcio Macêdo, Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, who will participate in both  the Amazon Dialogues and the Amazon Summit.

The meeting, the main international agenda that Brazil will host in 2023, is coordinated by the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other ministries, and in partnership with the government of the state of Pará and the municipality of Belém. It will also be a preamble to COP-30, to be held in the capital of Pará in November 2025.

MILESTONE – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has referred to the Amazon Summit as a milestone for a new stage in cooperation between the members of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). With the resumption of regional dialogue and relations between the entities and government bodies of participating nations, the countries will jointly define common policies and commitments for the sustainable development of the region.

“What we want is to tell the world what we’re going to do with our forests and what the world has to do to help us,” said President Lula recently, during the Conversation with the President program. In addition to the representatives of Amazon countries, Lula invited other world leaders to participate in the debates.

Holders of large tropical rainforests – and also important in the debate on climate change and environmental protection –, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia are among the countries who have confirmed their presence at the Summit in Belém.

In a call with President Lula last Thursday (July 27), the president of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan confirmed the visit of COP-28 president Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber to Brazil and the Amazon Summit. This year’s UN climate change conference will take place in November in Dubai.

PARTICIPATION – You must register in advance to participate in the Amazon Dialogues in person. It will also be possible to follow the broadcast, live, on the channels of the Empresa Brasil de Comunicação -EBC and the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic on Youtube.