August 8, 2023, Belém, Brazil - The Amazon Summit concludes with some progress and a resounding absence. The final scenario is described as "hopeful but insufficient" by various civil and indigenous organizations, given the lack of tangible commitments in relation to the exploitation of oil and gas in the forest. The result is a blanket of uncertainty about the real commitment on behalf of participating leaders to do everything necessary to protect the Amazon and thus avoid the point of no return. The final document does not reflect or live up to the demands and discussions that arose during the Amazon Dialogues.

However, the event also demonstrated the mobilization capacity of civil society to continue pressing and influencing the position of their governments towards more concrete and ambitious measures, something crucial in the face of the two key instances for managing the climate emergency: the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, and the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) during December in Dubai.

The new operational status of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) should mean a greater opening towards the peoples of the Amazon and, with this, guarantee the necessary dialogue to stop hydrocarbon exploitation in the region. The Amazon cannot be sacrificed for the sake of short-term economic interests.

The cancellation of the oil exploitation blocks, particularly in rich and middle-income countries, such as Brazil, is an imperative step. This action not only protects a vital ecosystem, it also safeguards the rights of indigenous peoples and exemplifies genuine leadership in the urgent fight against climate change. The lack of ambition in the Summit text undoubtedly means greater responsibility for governments around the world ahead of UNGA and COP 28.

Quotes from civil society organisations:

Auricélia Arapiuns, coordinator of the Tapajós and Arapiuns Indigenous Council: 

"The Summit initiative is positive, but we expected more, and the divergences have been worrying. Today is International Indigenous Peoples' Day, and we also expected announcements of demarcation of territories and other concrete policies, which was suspended by the government without an explanation of the reasons. We are not responsible for the climate crisis, but we are responsible for protecting life on the planet. Governments need to be more committed to indigenous peoples."

Marcio Astrini, Executive Secretary of the Climate Observatory:

"This is a very initial agreement. A first step, but it still does not address any concrete response to the world we are living in. The planet is melting, we are breaking temperature records every day. It is not possible that, in a scenario like this, eight Amazonian countries cannot put in a declaration, in bold letters, that deforestation must be zero and that exploring for oil in the middle of the forest is not a good idea. In short, the document lacks substance. It is a wish list, and the wishes are insufficient."

Adriana Ramos, Political and Socio-environmental Law Advisor, Instituto Socioambiental, ISA: 

"My expectations were not very high, as the divergences and limitations of the governments were already evident. But I thought it was good to have a comprehensive document with objective guidelines for strengthening ACTO as a regional governance body. It is clear that even with the good intentions of the speeches, governments are still far from the decisions needed to avoid the tipping point of the forest"

Alex Rafalowicz, Executive Director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative:

"The world demanded a spark of leadership at the Amazon Summit, but governments missed a historic chance to enact change. This was a missed opportunity to collectively douse the flames of fossil fuels and pave the way for a non-proliferation zone in the lungs of the planet. Countries committed to ‘Initiating a dialog’ on this but it’s not nearly enough. Allowing the continued expansion of fossil fuels in the Amazon is incompatible with respecting Indigenous peoples’ demands and meeting the 1.5°C climate goal. We must immediately halt the proliferation of all fossil fuels and manage an equitable phase out of coal, oil and gas. As the world  prepares for the UNGA, and Brazil steps up to host COP30, the stage is set for the nations of the Amazon to take effective and concrete actions to avoid coal, oil, and gas poisoning the Amazon basin and burning our shared climate." 

Marcelo Laterman, spokesperson for Greenpeace Brazil's Oceans front:

"It is essential to leave oil exploration behind. It is urgent to invest in a socio-economic model that respects the limits of nature and enhances economic activities that ensure the well-being of the Amazonian population. For this, it is essential that the knowledge of indigenous peoples, quilombolas and traditional communities, which promote the care and responsible use of the territory, be valued. "Brazil must align itself with the movement of South American countries, such as Colombia and Ecuador, which are questioning oil exploration in the Amazon. These are nations where traditional populations have been fighting for decades against the brutal impacts of the activity on their territories, with constant and serious episodes of leakage and contamination".

Caroline Prolo, Executive Director at LACLIMA, Advisor at International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED): 

“I think it was a missed opportunity for the region to establish cooperation and a joint message on ending deforestation in the Amazon. But the truth is that this has never been an articulated political bloc on the environmental and climate agenda. In the UNFCCC negotiations, Latin America is fragmented into other blocs - Brazil allied with Argentina and Uruguay; Colombia allied with Chile in the AILAC bloc; Bolivia, Venezuela and Suriname in ALBA. So I wasn't too surprised by the result. But I think that despite everything Brazil came out stronger with the leadership in articulating and establishing the beginning of this rapprochement, looking ahead to COP 30 and establishing a dialogue until then that can generate a bloc action.”

Natalie Unterstell, President of the Talanoa Institute:  

"If the intention was to show leadership in climate diplomacy, it fell short of delivering a commitment that was less diffuse and more aligned with the Paris Agreement.  Between now and COP30, it is hoped that leaders from Amazon countries will mature the regional dialogue on difficult issues and deliver ambition and credibility."

Marcelo Furtado, environmentalist and member of the Strategic Group of the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition: 

"It is a set of good news and a bit of frustration, since we have seen for many years governments making important and strategic promises, but when it comes to implementation, resources are lacking. The Summit addressed the right issues, but it did not deliver what society, the private sector and academia expect: a set of concrete, short- and medium-term actions that can change the course we are sailing today, and that frighteningly can lead us to exceed the 1.5 C commitment. [...] The charter is broad and inclusive, with a strong focus on science, technology and scientific development, tackling and recognising illegality and the need for intelligence, command and control actions. The problem is that we are 24 months away from COP 30 and less than 6 months away from Brazil's presidency of the G20. So we need concrete actions, especially focused on financial mechanisms and changes from the current economic matrix to one that is positive for the environment, the climate and people."

Adriana Lobo, Managing Director of Global Presence and Country Action at WRI: 

"The Summit left us with great hope that Amazon countries are coming together for a better path for the forest and its inhabitants, driving a global movement for a more sustainable economy. [...] Now Amazon countries need to put these ideas into practice - creating a plan with specific actions, public policies and time frames. And a strategy for attracting the investments needed to make this a reality.

Rachel Biderman, Senior Vice President at Conservation International:

"The Belem Declaration is an important commitment by public leaders, highlighting a path forward to avoid the point of no return for the Amazon. But how the Summit will be remembered ultimately depends on what is done next. We will need to work in full co-operation, with full transparency, to direct resources to the region. We will have to set specific cross-sectoral targets, with a strict timeline. We will need to follow the lead of traditional peoples, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and other local communities, who are the guardians of the forest. [...] There is no more time to lose or agendas to be postponed. Anything less than immediate and transformative action will leave us without a standing forest, threatening the global health and that of the communities that depend on it."

Claudio Angelo, Climate Observatory's Climate Policy and Communication Coordinator

"As is often the case in multilateral processes, we can look at the declaration as a glass half full or half empty. On the one hand, there is a seemingly genuine attempt to revive Amazon co-operation and the unprecedented recognition of science's findings that the Amazon is under threat of reaching the point of no return. On the other hand, there was no agreement on the key measures to try to avoid this collapse, zero deforestation by 2030 - as Brazil had proposed - and eliminate fossil fuels - as Colombia wanted. The whole, here, was unfortunately less than the sum of the parts."

Paulo Moutinho, Senior Researcher at IPAM:

"These absences of a more concrete direction through a plan, even if it has no goal, is something I expected to see given the urgency of climate change. There is good will, but I still think the letter lacks a greater expression of urgency. The issue of deforestation, in particular, will affect the climate condition of the basin as a whole, not just the Brazilian Amazon."

Edimilson Rodrigues, Mayor of Belém, said: 

"We have only 23 months to organise the COP. We all know the challenge of holding an international event, but we cannot think only about the event, and forget the economic reality of the region. [...] We are the most populous state in the Amazon. We have almost 503,000 companies in Pará - 366,000 are individual companies. 83.6 thousand are individual limited companies. Can you understand why we need to reverse the logic and strengthen micro and small businesses? We have large companies, but they do not represent even 1%. Vale turned Pará into the largest exporter of iron ore, but this wealth is not internalised and does not translate into improved quality of life in the territory."

Uyunkar Domingo Peas Nampichkai, Achuar leader from Ecuador, President of the Alianza Sagrada de la Amazonía:

"If governments are serious about wanting to protect the Amazon and all the lives that live in it, it is key to remember that 80% of the biodiversity lives in indigenous territories and that they need to be protected by ensuring territorial titling. This is the first request of the peoples and it is the right action to take to protect life and the climate".

Erlan Sleur, Chairman of the ProBioS foundation in Suriname , chairman of FOSPA-Suriname:

“Only Colombia through President Petro is willing to take the important step of banning oil extraction from the Amazon. Many of these countries do not have the finances to develop the oil fields themselves for production and we see the multinationals from the rich countries such as Exxonmobile, Total energies Chevron, Repsol, Shell etc. enriching themselves with the petrodollars. We hereby call on not only the Amazon countries but also the rich countries to exchange their hunger for oil and petrodollars for common sense to stimulate the energy transition in poor countries as well. Climate change is not a story but everyday reality and even the climate scientists cannot explain the extremely high ocean temperatures, while the melting of the polar ice caps and glaciers seems unstoppable. Where and who on earth are we waiting for to take the right steps to protect life here on Earth?”

Joilson Costa, advisor to the Forum on Climate Change and Socio-environmental Justice and Executive Coordinator of the Front for a New Energy Policy:

"The report of the Plenary 'How to think the Amazon for the future from science, technology, innovation, academic research and energy transition' of the Amazon Dialogues is extremely timid when talking about energy transition. It does not even mention the fundamental step for such a transition to occur: the reduction in the use and consumption of fossil fuels and the consequent and necessary increase in the participation of renewable sources in the energy matrix of countries. It thus moves away from what was widely demanded by the participants of this plenary on the subject: an effective energy transition, with popular participation and that does not violate the rights of people and communities."

Ilan Zugman, 350.org Regional Director in Latin America:

"There were positive results, such as the consensus that we cannot let the Amazon reach a point of no return, but also major disappointments, such as the lack of commitment to the elimination of oil and gas extraction. The next great opportunity to show advances in this area will be the COP28, in December, and if by then the countries of the region use the common base built in this Summit to assume more concrete and ambitious commitments, they will have a much greater capacity to pressure the rich countries to solve the climate chaos that they created".