Wednesday’s pact, called “United for Our Forests”, brought together leaders from the Amazon, the Congo Basin and southeast Asia, three regions with some of the most extensive rainforests in the world.
The joint statement called for the development of a financing mechanism so the international community could pay for the critical services provided by forests.
“Our countries must wield more influence over the management of resources allocated to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity,” the pact said of developing nations.
It also urged developed nations to meet an existing commitment to provide $200bn a year for biodiversity preservation and expressed concern that a previous promise to deliver $100bn in climate financing annually had not been fulfilled.
Speaking on Wednesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the Amazon Summit gave an opportunity for rainforest nations to unify in advance of October’s United Nations Climate Change Conference summit, or COP28, in Abu Dhabi.
“We are going to COP28 with the aim of telling the rich world that, if they want to effectively preserve the forest that exists, they need to pay money not only to take care of the canopy but to take care of the people who live under it,” he said.
Wednesday’s statement also criticised what it described as trade restrictions disguised as environmental measures, in an apparent reference to the European Union’s passage of a law prohibiting firms from importing goods linked to deforestation.
The communiqué was signed by leaders from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Peru, the Republic of Congo, Suriname, Venezuela and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
