Amazon nations summit faces fault lines on oil, deforestation
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[August 07, 2023]
By Jake Spring
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Eight Amazon rainforest nations are expected to
face divisions over proposals to block new oil drilling and end
deforestation when they meet on Tuesday for their first summit in 14
years.
The meeting of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) gathers
heads of state from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru,
Suriname and Venezuela for two days in the northern Brazilian city of
Belem.
They will aim to forge unified policies, goals and positions in
international negotiations on some 130 issues ranging from financing for
sustainable development to indigenous inclusion.
But at a pre-summit meeting last month, Colombian President Gustavo
Petro pushed his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to
block all new oil development in the Amazon. Brazil is weighing whether
to develop a potentially huge offshore oil find near the mouth of the
Amazon River.
"Are we going to let hydrocarbons be explored in the Amazon rainforest?
To deliver them as exploration blocks? Is there wealth there or is there
the death of humanity?" Petro asked in a speech alongside Lula.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/07/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
Days later, Petro underscored the issue in an op-ed in the Miami Herald,
writing: "As heads of state, we must assure the end of new oil and gas
exploration in the Amazon."
The debate over drilling for oil near the mouth of the Amazon has
sparked fierce infighting in Lula's seven-month-old government, pitting
advocates for regional development against environmentalists.
Asked whether oil would factor into an accord at the summit, Brazilian
diplomats told journalists last week that a joint statement was still
being negotiated and economic development more broadly was under
discussion.
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![](../images/080723PIX/news_f13.jpg)
A heron flies above the Piraiba river
before a summit of Amazon rainforest nations, in Belem, Para state,
Brazil August 6, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
A Brazilian government official, who was not authorized to speak to
the media, said that Colombia was in an easy position to propose no
new drilling in the Amazon because it did not have significant oil
reserves there, unlike Brazil or Peru.
For his part, Lula pushed at the pre-summit meeting in Leticia,
Colombia, for all countries in the region to pledge an end to
deforestation by 2030. Only Bolivia and Venezuela have not yet made
such a commitment.
Bolivia could be a barrier to such a regional 2030 pact, the
Brazilian government source said. Primary forest loss there rose 32%
last year amid fires and rapid agricultural expansion, according to
Global Forest Watch.
The Bolivian government did not respond to requests for comment.
Other differences that could surface at the summit are more subtle
disagreements about priorities. Colombia hosted the pre-summit
meeting where top on the agenda was cross-border collaboration to
address the rising threat of drug traffickers perpetrating
environmental crimes in the Amazon.
Brazil, by contrast, has emphasized opportunities for sustainable
development, reflecting Lula's campaign platform focused on poverty
reduction and conservation.
(Reporting by Jake Spring; Additional reporting by Oliver Griffin in
Bogota and Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo; Editing by Brad Haynes and
Cynthia Osterman)
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