00:00 The Brazilian city of Belém is hosting a two-day conclave bringing together the presidents
00:09 of eight Amazon nations including Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.
00:15 Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has organized the conference as part
00:19 of efforts to reposition his country as a political and environmental trailblazer after
00:25 four years of Amazon devastation and international isolation under his far-right predecessor
00:31 Jair Bolsonaro.
00:33 Lula had said last week that the meeting will seek to draw up a common policy for the first
00:38 time to protect the rainforest.
00:40 The leaders of eight Amazon rainforest nations are meeting in this summit to tackle pressing
00:44 challenges facing the critical ecosystem of Amazon rainforests.
00:49 Lula da Silva took over as President of Brazil in January this year.
00:53 Under his predecessor, vast tracts of the Amazon fell to make way for mining, cattle
00:58 ranches and soybean farming.
01:00 In 2022 alone, the last year of Bolsonaro's leadership, almost two million hectares of
01:05 forest was lost.
01:06 During his tenure from 2019 to 2022, Bolsonaro's administration weakened regulation and enforcement
01:14 around deforestation, shrinking the budgets of agencies monitoring environmental crimes
01:19 and pushing for laws allowing forests destroying mining or indigenous land.
01:23 But since Lula da Silva took office, deforestation in Brazil's Amazon seems to be slowing down.
01:29 Official figures show a drop of 33.6 percent from January to June compared to the same period
01:35 in 2022.
01:36 Lula da Silva wants to go further and has promised to halt illegal deforestation completely
01:41 in the Amazon by 2030.
01:44 On the eve of the summit, campaigners, indigenous leaders and top politicians poured into Belem
01:49 for a preparatory assembly to discuss ways to protect indigenous territories, save the
01:54 rainforest from a catastrophic tipping point and combat organized crime groups which are
01:58 tightening their grip on the region.
02:01 The Amazon, a massive rainforest twice the size of India that sprawls across eight countries
02:06 and one territory, is a crucial carbon sink, absorbing carbon dioxide emissions which are
02:11 driving the climate crisis.
02:13 Overdeforestation leads to more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and generally means
02:18 reduced rainfall and higher temperatures.
02:20 The Amazon rainforest is one of the world's most important carbon sinks and it absorbs
02:25 massive amounts of carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels.
02:30 Deforestation has been the main threat to the Amazon, particularly in Brazil, which
02:33 is home to about two-thirds of the rainforest.
02:36 The Amazon biome has lost more than 85,000 square kilometers or about 13 percent of its
02:42 original area.
02:44 Scientists fear continuing loss could eventually lead to a tipping point beyond which the majority
02:48 of the ecosystem will become a savannah, and that would be indeed catastrophic for the
02:52 entire world.
02:53 [Music]
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