The 30th Anniversary of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) was observed last Thursday (July 3).

This Treaty was signed by eight (8) participating countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela with the purpose of promoting joint actions for the harmonious development of the Amazon Basin. The region occupies about 34 % of South American territory and in signing the Treaty member countries emphasised the need for solidarity in defending the Amazon and fighting poverty and finding ways to improve the quality of life for people.

In 1995, the member states of ACT created the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO) in order to strengthen and implement the goals of the ACT. Later, in 2003, ACTO established its Headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil. Support for this Organisation is provided by the eight Amazonian countries as well as other countries and international organisations in other parts of the world.

Significance of the Amazon Basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. There is much in the Amazon Basin to galvanize efforts for its conservation and sustainable use. It is a vast area encompassing 2.3 million square miles (6.1 million square kilometers) representing two-thirds of the Earth’s remaining tropical forests and about one-third of all forests in the world.

Climate Change
The Amazon forest is the largest in the world and plays a critical role in the storage of carbon and in moderating the Earth’s climate. The vast rainforest of the Amazon remove huge volumes of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas from the atmosphere which is essential for stabilising the global temperature.

The function of Amazon forests in moderating the Earth’s Climate is one that is globally recognised. For this reason, Amazonian countries are lobbying for incentives from the global community for the conservation of their forests. To this end, Guyana’s President Jagdeo has put forward a bold Initiative on Climate Change which calls for: (i) the recognition of the contributions of standing forests towards addressing climate change (ii) urgent change to the current global arrangement which provides a disincentive for forest conservation and protection (iii) consideration of opportunity costs and the development of financial models to provide adequate compensation and incentives for maintaining standing forests through conservation and sustainable use and (iv) increased and easily accessible financial resources as well as capacity building for climate change mitigation as current mechanisms, in particular the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism has not proven to be effective so far.

Guyana has been furthering its cause on the economic value of its forests by making an extraordinary offer in November last year, to place its entire standing forests under the protection of a British-led international body in return for development aid. In this regard some success has been achieved as this year, a deal was agreed, where financial value has been placed on a million acres of Guyana’s Iwokrama Rainforest.

Species Richness
According to ACTO, almost half of all species in existence live in the Amazonian biome. There are 45,000 plant species, 1,300 species of freshwater fish, 1,000 species of birds, 150 species of bats, 1,800 species of butterflies, 163 species of amphibians, 305 species of snakes, and 311 species of mammals.

A huge portion of the Amazon basin remains unexplored, hence the number of plants, animals, micro-organisms as well as species of fish and other aquatic organisms are relatively unknown to the rest of the world. These are not just small insects, but mammals and reptiles as well and are being discovered every day in the Amazon. These can disappear before we discover them if their habitats become endangered and further their potential for providing cures for existing and new illnesses would be lost. Protecting the Amazon is important not only for people who live in the Amazon and countries that share the Amazon but for the whole world.

Water Resources
The Amazon and its tributaries form the largest volume of water which accounts for about one fifth of the total fresh water carried to the oceans by rivers. The Amazon has more water than the nine other largest rivers of the world combined! Water is vital to life, without it, there would be no forests and no wildlife.

ACTO with support from the Global Environmental Facility, UNEP [United Nations Environment Programme], and OAS [Organisation of American States], is working towards an integrated project to protect trans-boundary water resources. The project will analyze the situation at the water source in the Andes and the current water quality in the Amazon, which is in turn related to the waste that big cities in the Amazon produce and how we can manage it.

People
The Amazon is not an empty space, as many may think - about 30 million human inhabitants, including the indigenous peoples and others live there. Many live in big cities, like Manaus and Belém in Brazil, Iquitos in Peru, and Santa Cruz in Bolivia—with more than a million people each. Traditional inhabitants who live in the Amazon have done so for thousands of years and their lifestyles and cultures are well adapted to the environment and its conservation.

Ecological Services
The Amazon Basin provides many ecological services including recycling of nutrients e.g. nitrogen, carbon storage, erosion control, improving air and water quality and conserving biodiversity. These services play a significant role in maintaining the ecological balance of life on earth.

Challenges to the Amazon Basin
The major challenges of the Amazon are also global ones. Maintaining the Amazon and its sustainable development is a major challenge in particular ensuring the sustainability of its forests, water and biodiversity resources.

ACTO is concerned with these major issues, and is placing emphasis on how science and technology can help to promote sustainable development in the Amazon and how joint action by its members and other supporters can solve its problems.

Another significant issue in the Amazon forest is illegal trading in animals, birds, and fish - living things that people keep as pets in their houses. The cost of satisfying this desire is, however, very high since for each fish or bird several other animals of the same species may have died on the way to the place where they are sold. Illegal logging too is destroying life in the Amazon, because each living thing is linked to others.

ACTO is working on different aspects of bringing wildlife regulations into harmony. The thrust is to analyze and study existing laws with the objective to harmonise them. This work is being spearheaded through a group of universities and the Coordinator of Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon.

Water quality is also a significant issue particularly mercury contamination. Mercury affects fish and other river life, as well as the lives of people who can get sick from eating fish with mercury.

Over sixty indigenous populations in the Amazon have never had contact with Western life. These may have several hundred or a thousand people each and could disappear if they have contact with other civilizations. Even a cold could kill them, because they do not have natural or other protections. If this happens, all the ancestral knowledge of these original people from the Amazon region, which is so essential to understand the uses of biodiversity, will be lost.

Although knowledge and concerns about environmental issues are growing regarding the Amazon, it is still a challenge to get enough people to care. Globalisation is serving the cause of climate change and because of the vital role of the Amazon, more people will become aware and advocate for action.

Guyana and ACTO
Many agencies and institutions in Guyana including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are involved in the effort to promote sustainable development of the Amazon Basin.

In support of ACT, a Country Study on topics related to the Management to the Amazon Region Biodiversity in Guyana was drafted. The Country Study is expected to serve as an input in executing the ACTO Project for Strengthening Joint Regional Management for the Sustainable Use of Amazonian Biodiversity.

In addition to this study, the EPA has represented Guyana at a meeting held in Manaus, Brazil, in 2007 which saw the preparation of a draft document on a Regional Programme for the Sustainable Management of the Protected Areas of the Amazon. This Regional Programme will focus on aspects of regional interest as well as on strengthening and supporting protected areas systems of member countries in order to help them achieve their goals.

Guyana also supports ACTO programmes and projects that assist in developing a regional response to issues which affect the development of the Amazon such as inter alia, Sustainable Forest Management, Integrated and Sustainable Management of Trans-boundary water resources in the Amazon Basin and a Regional Bio-trade Programme.

You can also share your ideas and questions by sending your letters to: “Our Environment”, C/o EIT Division. Environmental Protection Agency, Lot 7 Broad and Charles Street, Charlestown, GEORGETOWN. Or email us at eit.epaguyana@gmail.com with questions and comments.