Preceding the political dialogue from the heads of state, the Second Presidential Summit of the Leticia Pact for the Amazon held a panel of experts in the first follow-up on the topic ‘Innovative solutions for the conservation and sustainable development of the Amazon.’ The meeting took place virtually on August 11.
The panel had the participation of the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, as moderator; the Vice President of Brazil, Gen. Hamilton Mourão; the Minister of Environment and Water of Bolivia, María Elva Pinckert De Paz; the Minister of Economy and Finance of Ecuador, Richard Martínez Alvarado; the Founder and President of the Paulson Institute, Hank Paulson; UN Foundation Senior Advisor, Thomas Lovejoy; the Secretary General of ACTO, Maria Alexandra Moreira and the Executive Director, World Economic Forum, Dominic Waughray.
The vice president of Brazil, Gen. Hamilton Mourão, announced the reactivation of the Permanent National Commission for Amazonian Cooperation, within the scope of the National Council for Legal Amazon. This decision arises from the obligation assumed by Brazil in the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) and it is expected that the decision of Brazil will have a demonstration effect for the other Amazonian countries.
The Amazon Council is going to strengthen ACTO. Today the National Commission was re-established under the Amazon Council to cooperate for the benefit of the countries and, above all, of the populations of the region”, affirmed Hamilton Mourão. “The bioeconomy is the way for the Amazon to enter the age of knowledge. We will have to invest in research”, added the Vice-President of Brazil.
In her presentation, the Secretary General of ACTO, Alexandra Moreira, highlighted that the Amazon Cooperation Treaty was signed in 1978 and continues to be an extremely topical and fully valid instrument due to its visionary approach. The main objective of the ACT is to promote the harmonious development of the Amazon, to generate equitable and mutually beneficial results, as well as the preservation of the environment and the rational use of its resources.
“The Amazon plays a decisive role in the Region, in the reactivation and recovery after COVID 19. This recovery has to be based on innovative and ambitious actions considering economic, environmental and social equity,” said Alexandra Moreira, Secretary General of ACTO.
Alexandra Moreira highlighted the three fundamental strategic axes of ACTO’s action in this context.
The first strategic axis is for the Strengthening of local economies to generate multiplier effects, with a strong commitment to international cooperation and with greater economic mobilization and investment from different sources. The themes that constitute an opportunity for new investments to be directed are the conservation and sustainable use of forests and biological diversity; basic sanitation, solid and liquid waste management and green infrastructure; strengthening of the productive value chains of Amazonian products and with greater technological innovation and health and sanitary technology.
The second strategic axis – Strengthening regional cooperation through ACTO – the objective is to promote issues of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the improvement of the quality of life of the local population, particularly of indigenous peoples and the tribal communities.
“The good news is that several of these issues are already being worked on in ACTO with the active participation of the Member Countries and the support of the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation, EU, different divisions of the IDB, GIZ, KfW, UNEP among other institutions. This work can be expanded on a larger scale and to other areas”, commented Alexandra Moreira.
In the third strategic axis – Development and application of management instruments and tools to achieve sustainable development in the Amazon Region – a regional response to COVID-19 is being sought, which requires a high capacity for analysis on the multidimensional problem of the Amazon Region to ensure that public investment resources are efficiently invested. A regional response must also be based on systematized and organized information and on technical and political dialogues of the region, with the private sector, with public actors and with organized civil society.
“For this, as ACTO we consider it important to quickly launch a study applied at the regional level on “integral Amazonian development”, which can also propose actions and measures to face the impacts and consequences of the pandemic in the Amazon Region. We have thought of promoting this study jointly between ACTO and ECLAC”, informed the Secretary General of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization.
Following the Panel of Experts, the executive director of the World Economic Forum, Dominc Waughray, commented during the panel that the bioeconomy will be one of the topics of the next meeting of the group in 2021. “The bioeconomy can be the heart for an economy based on biology for a new business model. The Leticia Pact has very interesting aspects, for example, of creating innovations and sustainable development”, said Dominic Waughray.
A summary of the discussions in the panel of experts was presented by the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, at the opening of the political follow-up to the Second Presidential Summit of the Leticia Pact for the Amazon.
