Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will cross the border into Colombia this weekend to attend the preparatory meeting for the Amazon Summit, which will be held in the northern Brazilian city of Belém in August.
The four-day event in the Colombian city of Leticia — which sits on the banks of the Amazon River — consists of a series of panel discussions with researchers, civil society, and indigenous representatives on Amazon-related issues. On Saturday, Lula will attend the meeting’s final day, where he and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, will be presented with the event’s results.
Environment Minister Marina Silva and Indigenous Peoples Minister Sônia Guajajara are in Leticia today to take part in the preparatory meeting and will return to Brazil tomorrow.
The meeting comes as Brazil announced a 34 percent reduction in Amazon deforestation so far in 2023. The country’s Deter real-time satellites recorded a total of 2,649 square kilometers of Amazon deforestation between January and the end of June.
Furthermore, last month’s total deforestation was the lowest for June since 2018, and was 40 percent lower than the same period last year.
There is still a long way to go, however, if the Lula government is to meet its zero Amazon deforestation pledges. The 2,649 square kilometers recorded in the first half of the year was higher than 2019, the first year of the Jair Bolsonaro administration.
What’s more, findings from the National Institute of Space Research show that the Amazon has seen 10.7 percent more fires in the first half of 2023 compared to the year prior.
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