ACTO director: Summit in Brazil to be “Amazon voice"
The countdown has begun for one of the most important meetings of heads of state of the so-called Amazon countries: the Amazon Summit, taking place on August 8 and 9 in Belém. Its purpose is to define policies and strategies for the sustainable development of the region.
Before that, in a preceding event - the Amazon Dialogues - representatives of entities, social movements, research centers, and government agencies from Brazil and the other Amazonian countries will gather between August 4 and 6 to formulate suggestions aimed at establishing sustainable public policies for the region.
The outcomes of these debates will be presented to the heads of state during the Amazon Summit.
ACTO
The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization—ACTO is responsible for organizing the meeting. It is an intergovernmental organization comprised of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela—countries that formed the only socio-environmental bloc in Latin America by signing the Amazon Cooperation Treaty in 1978.
ACTO Executive Director Carlos Alfredo Lazary, a retired Brazilian diplomat, now doubling as an international official with eight bosses, to play a subsidiary role to the Summit, believes that the two events will represent "an inclusive Amazonian voice to be heard by all other countries."
"I imagine that the outcome that will result from the Summit, will strengthen the regional dimension, in the narrative of heads of state, for other events, such as COP28 in the United Arab Emirates [between November 30 and December 12] and for the G20 meetings [a group that brings together the world's leading economies]," the ACTO director told Agência Brasil.
According to him, the Amazonian countries are aware of the need to demonstrate that they can work together to present proposals that could later attract significant investment to the region based on well-built projects that could arouse international interest.
Lazary highlighted the interest in research on the Amazon Aquifer, which holds an amount of water two and a half times greater than that of the region's surface rivers. However, despite this abundance, the lack of drinking water remains a major problem experienced by local populations.
Water and forest services
"I believe it will result in the support and strengthening of ACTO, so that regional projects have priority in international resources," he said, informing that the organization of which he is director will present proposals for the creation of two forums during the Amazon Dialogues. One of them will be formed by water directors, and the other by forest service directors.
"This will be the main proposal, defined after prior discussions with all member countries," he added, explaining that it will be up to these groups to develop project themes that will attract investment and non-reimbursable resources.
Lazary explained that many of the projects will result in the sharing of knowledge and technologies developed by entities such as the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), the National Amazon Research Institute (Inpa), and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), as well as their counterparts in neighboring countries.
"For instance, Suriname and Guyana lack water agencies. That's precisely why we are providing assistance to establish their respective agencies, and furthermore, to facilitate their integration into the forum of water directors we plan to create," he explained. He also mentioned that the support for these two countries will be facilitated through collaboration with the Brazilian National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA) and its Peruvian counterpart.
Other possibilities
Lazary also detailed initiatives to pass on knowledge on monitoring the trade in plants and animals at risk of extinction, as well as training teams to operate genomic sequencers that will enable faster and more efficient responses in case of pandemics in the region.
"We are going to install laboratories in the Amazon forests of these countries, to help them network and identify hatcheries of future osmoses," he detailed, highlighting the potential of the policies and strategies under consideration.
"One area that must advance is the real-time monitoring of water basins, forest cover, and fires in the Amazon. As the idea is to develop sustainable economic activities that take into account the quality of life of the people who inhabit the Amazon, there are great possibilities for the export of products such as cupuaçu, guaraná, açaí, and Brazil nuts," said the ACTO director.
Optimism
He is also optimistic about the potential of sustainable community tourism for the economy, stating that "there are great possibilities for the whole part of visits to the peoples of the region, for handicrafts, and for the traditional knowledge of these peoples. This type of tourism, like fishing tourism, birdwatching tourism, and tree climbing, represents a low-impact and far-reaching cross-cutting activity."
Lazary's expectations with the Amazon Dialogues and the Amazon Summit are "the best," and are based on the inclusive dialogue that will count on the participation of civil society.
"I believe that these meetings will strengthen us and create a culture for the programs to be developed to arouse international interest and improve the living conditions of local populations," he concluded.
