The countries that protect the largest tropical forests on the planet asked on Wednesday the “rich world” to contribute financially to efforts aimed at ending deforestation, rather than contributing to the fight against climate change as a method of limiting the development of poorer nations, reports AFP. and Agerpress.

“If the rich countries really want to preserve the existing forests, then they must make a financial contribution not only for the care of the trees, but also for the people who live nearby, who want to live in dignity,” said the Brazilian president. , Lula da Silva, at the end of the summit of the Amazon countries held in the Brazilian city of Belem.

He accused developed countries of trying to impose “green neocolonialism” under the pretext of environmental measures, which limit the development opportunities and competitiveness of developing countries so that they remain a source of raw materials and cheap labor, i.e. the same “predatory economic model”. “from the colonial past.

“These consequences are felt in our countries to this day,” so “we cannot talk about rainforests and climate change without paying attention to the historical responsibility of developed countries. They have been the ones who have used the most natural resources and pollute the planet the most for centuries. The richest 10% of the world’s population concentrate more than 75% of the world’s wealth and emit almost half of the total carbon emitted into the atmosphere,” said the Brazilian president.

In recent months, he has been very critical of the environmental requirements that the EU insists on, through “threats”, to add to the trade agreement agreed in 2019 with the MERCOSUR states (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), requirements that have blocked the process of ratification of the agreement.

Countries that participated in the Rainforest Summit

The Belém summit brought together the eight member states of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) for the first time in 14 years. Other countries with vast expanses of tropical forests, such as the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Indonesia, were also invited.

France, which also owns the Amazonian territory in Guyana, was represented at the summit by its ambassador to Brazil, who read a message sent by President Emmanuel Macron “reaffirming France’s commitment to protecting forests and the Amazon in particular.”

At the end of the summit, the OTC countries signed the “Belem Declaration,” a 113-point river document that details cooperation milestones aimed at “preventing the Amazon from reaching the point of no return,” but still contains few concrete measures to protect these vast regions where about 10% of the world’s biodiversity is concentrated.

Echoing the statements of the Brazilian president, the text condemns the “unilateral” measures of developed countries against climate change, which are “a means of arbitrary discrimination or a hidden restriction of international trade.”