12 September 2019
Amazon Countries Commit to Protect Forests and Promote Disaster Prevention
UN Photo/Eva Fendiaspara
story highlights

In the Leticia Pact, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname agree to combat deforestation and forest degradation.

The countries also agree to create an Amazon network for natural disaster cooperation and prevention, including large-scale forest fires.

6 September 2019: In response to record-breaking numbers of wildfires, seven Amazon countries signed the Leticia Pact to protect the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest tropical rainforest. The Pact underscores the importance of implementing and generating synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on climate change and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

In 2019, fires in Brazil, which contains 60% of the Amazon rainforest, increased by 83% as compared to 2018. Wildfires also occurred in Bolivia, on its border with Brazil and Paraguay. In response, leaders from the seven Amazon countries convened in Leticia, in the Colombian Amazon.

In the resulting Leticia Pact, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname recognize the value of the Amazon for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and its role as a source of freshwater and as a climate regulator. The seven countries agree to strengthen coordinated action on forests and biodiversity to combat deforestation and forest degradation; increase initiatives for restoration, rehabilitation and accelerated reforestation; and promote initiatives for connectivity of priority ecosystems. The countries also agree to establish mechanisms for regional cooperation and information exchange to combat illegal activities that threaten the conservation of the Amazon and to exchange experiences in integrated fire management. Amazon countries also agree to increase the participation of indigenous communities, including the empowerment of indigenous women.

Further, the countries state their intention to create an Amazon network for natural disaster cooperation among emergency operations centers to coordinate on national disaster prevention, including large-scale forest fires. They will increase their national and regional efforts to address forest degradation and deforestation and coordinate their responses to disasters, such as the 2019 wildfires. The countries will also cooperate to increase satellite monitoring of deforestation, share information on forest threats, such as illegal mining, and promote an early warning system for deforestation and degradation.

The countries agree to coordinate on formulating an action plan to implement their commitments under the Pact and to hold follow-up meetings to evaluate progress. [Leticia Pact] [BBC News Story] [EcoWatch News Story on Pact] [Land Portal News Story]

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