Ministers of the Amazon promote common solutions at the CAF-OTCA Pavilion

In the framework of the Meeting of Environment Ministers of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), held in the CAF-OTCA Pavilion at COP30, representatives of Amazonian countries gathered to strengthen regional cooperation and draw up a joint roadmap to position the Amazon as a region with innovative solutions to the global climate crisis.

During their speeches, the ministers agreed on the urgency of integrating the biodiversity and climate agendas, strengthening regional action from a vision of the entire biome, aligning common financial and environmental policies that have an impact on the well-being of populations and the preservation of ecosystems.

From Brazil, Minister Marina Silva contextualized the global challenge and regional leadership before the upcoming COP30: "We have assumed the mission of presiding over COP30 at a particularly difficult time, marked by geopolitical tensions that are testing the foundations of the world order and multilateralism. This instability is compounded by the climate emergency, with all the damage resulting from fires, droughts and torrential rains that are harming our communities. "

During the meeting, Colombia became the first country to declare the Amazon as a reserve zone free of large-scale mining and hydrocarbon activities. This measure will protect more than 483,000 km² of the Amazon biome - 42% of the national territory and 7% of the greater South American Amazon - setting a precedent in the protection of the lungs of the world.

The country's Minister of the Environment, Irene Vélez Torres, said that "we have been the first country in the Amazon basin to declare the entirety of Colombia's part of the Amazon biome as a renewable natural resource reserve zone, protecting this biome from large-scale mining and hydrocarbon activities".

For his part, the Secretary General of ACTO, Martin Von Hildebrand, explained that the Amazon cooperation process "was born to articulate the efforts of our countries, integrate the technical networks that already operate and consolidate a view of the biome capable of translating our coincidences into concrete actions. The question that summons us is: how can we cooperate more and better to avoid the point of no return of the biome and promote the wellbeing of its inhabitants?

The event was attended by Ms. Irene Vélez Torres, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia; Ms. Marina Silva, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil; Ms. Irene Manzoni Diniz, Minister of Environment and Energy of Ecuador; Mr. Miguel Marinas, Minister of Environment of Peru; Mr. Renan Somapai, representative of the government of Suriname; and Mr. Ricardo Molina, Minister of People's Power for Ecosocialism of Venezuela. Mr. Martin Von Hildebrand, Secretary General of ACTO, also addressed the meeting.