- Title: Amazon countries sign forest pact, promising to coordinate disaster response
- Date: 6th September 2019
- Summary: LETICIA, COLOMBIA (SEPTEMBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF TELE-CONFERENCE WITH BRAZIL'S PRESIDENT JAIR BOLSONARO VARIOUS OF BRAZIL'S FOREIGN MINISTER, ERNESTO ARAUJO, DURING MEETING GENERAL OF ONE-DAY SUMMIT LEADERS - INCLUDING PERU PRESIDENT MARTIN VIZCARRA AND COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT IVAN DUQUE - AT ONE-DAY SUMMIT ECUADOR'S PRESIDENT LENIN MORENO DURING ONE-DAY SUMMIT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT IVAN DUQUE, SAYING: "I want to make a call to everyone here, so this summit leads us to concrete measures, in what will be the pact to sign and I refer to some of them. First, the coordinated action against deforestation. May all of us set our goals within our sovereignty to face this phenomenon. That we also agree with the commitments that we have subscribed internationally but beyond that, to raise this determination at the presidential level to face this phenomenon." PERU PRESIDENT MARTIN VIZCARRA SPEAKING DURING SUMMIT INDIGENOUS NECKLACE WORN BY LEADER MORENO DURING SUMMIT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PERU PRESIDENT MARTIN VIZCARRA, SAYING: "It is not just a problem for the 34 million people who live in the Amazon. That's a great quantity of people but what happens in the Amazon affects not just our countries but also the entire world. If we do not work in a responsible way, maybe in the short time it will be too late to reverse this situation." GENERAL OF SUMMIT MORENO DURING SUMMIT INDIGENOUS DRAWINGS ON TABLE CLOTH (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOLIVIA PRESIDENT EVO MORALES, SAYING: "As it is possible - due to ideological differences - to be distanced but above the ideological differences are the rights of Mother Earth. We respect, we have differences, it is a right. The people will know who they vote for. That is not in debate and so, the document that is promoted as an agreement or treaty of Leticia - I ask to incorporate- without any exclusion, that we all face this problem that is presented to us." INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AT SUMMIT INDIGENOUS MAN LISTENING TO SUMMIT VARIOUS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE DURING SUMMIT VARIOUS OF LEADERS AND OFFICIALS AT TABLE ARRIVING TO SIGN AGREEMENT MORALES AND VIZCARRA VARIOUS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE LOOKING ON VIZCARRA, DUQUE AND MORENO AT TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT IVAN DUQUE, SAYING: "Here we are signing the agreement, the Leticia agreement. An agreement where we coordinate, where we work harmoniously for common goals. A pact which obliges us, commits us and motivates us to protect our Amazon. To do works of prevention, mitigation, and attention when we have risks or when there are also forest fires." ALL LEADERS SIGNING AGREEMENT VARIOUS OF LEADERS SIGNING AGREEMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ECUADOR'S PRESIDENT LENIN MORENO, SAYING: "Little remains for words. From this signature, we are going to fundamentally take actions because no theory, no thesis, no word is valid as long as it does not acquire earthiness and above all favours those who are most in need." MORALES, VIZCARRA AND DUQUE SIGNING AGREEMENT MORALES SIGNING AGREEMENT ARAUJO AND MORALES HOLDING UP AGREEMENT VIZCARRA, DUQUE AND MORENO HOLDING UP SIGNED AGREEMENT VIZCARRA AND DUQUE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOLIVIA PRESIDENT EVO MORALES, SAYING: "It is an excellent start-up initiative and must also involve everyone, without exclusion, without marginalization. I really want to emphasize, the ideological differences must move to second place. First are the rights of Mother Earth. It is a responsibility that must also include social movements, all sectors and in this kind of problems, the issue of natural disasters, the people who always lose are the poorest people, the humblest people." GENERAL OF MEETING DUQUE AND MORENO INDIGENOUS NECKLACE WORN BY MORENO VARIOUS OF LEADERS AFTER SIGNING
- Embargoed: 21st September 2019 00:24
- Keywords: Bolivia Leticia Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro Peru President Ivan Duque President Evo Morales President Lenin Moreno President Martin Vizcarra pact Latin America Colombia Amazon
- Location: LETICIA, COLOMBIA
- City: LETICIA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AVIUO93
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Seven Amazonian countries on Friday (September 6) signed a pact to protect the world's largest tropical forest via disaster response coordination and satellite monitoring, amid recent fires that torched thousands of square miles of the jungle.
The presidents of Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, the vice-president of Suriname and the natural resource minister of Guyana attended the one-day summit in the jungle city of Leticia in southern Colombia.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro participated by video link, while his foreign minister, Ernesto Araujo, attended in person.
The countries will create a natural disaster network so they can better cooperate in the face of events like large-scale fires, the pact said.
The group will also work on reforestation initiatives, increase efforts to monitor deforestation activity via satellite, develop education initiatives and increase the role of indigenous communities in sustainable development, it added.
The countries also agreed to share information on activities like illegal mining that hurt conservation, the pact said.
The group will "work together to strengthen the programs and financial mechanisms, reiterate the commitments made by countries in these scenarios, mobilize public and private resources, including the multilateral banks, as appropriate, for the implementation of this pact."
Forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon have surged in number by 83% this year, according to government data, destroying vast swathes of a vital bulwark against global climate change.
Some 60% of the forest is located in Brazil. The Amazon is also home to around 1 million people who are members of 500 indigenous groups.
Fires have also raged in recent weeks in Bolivia.
Bolsonaro initially accused nongovernmental organizations of setting the fires, without providing any evidence, while environmentalists have warned his plans for more agriculture and mining in the region will speed up deforestation.
The far-right firebrand engaged in a public war of words with French President Emmanuel Macron, who called for more to be done to combat the fires.
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