Strengthening Sovereignty to Protect the Amazon: VP Rodriguez

On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called upon the nations that comprise the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) to establish a collaborative action plan to safeguard the Amazon forests and their natural resources.

RELATED: 

The Belem Summit to Be a Landmark in the Amazon History: Lula

"Through hard work, effort, and a concrete action plan ready for implementation, let's unite in reforestation, sanitation, and restoration of the Amazon, for the well-being of our Indigenous peoples," he tweeted, displaying optimism and asserting that the Amazon countries are "heading towards a new humanity."

Due to an ear infection, the Bolivarian leader could not personally attend the 4th ACTO Presidential Summit in the city of Belem, in the state of Para. However, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez attended this high-level meeting.

She presented a specific action plan for the preservation of life and the rights of nature, with the main points as follows:

- Establish an ACTO task force as a coordinating body among the region's countries.

- Develop a comprehensive reforestation plan to map critical areas in the Amazon basin and promote sustainable practices as sovereign and ecological economic alternatives.

- Establish an seed bank and research center to preserve regional biodiversity.

- Eliminate illegal mining activities.

- Launch an Amazonian satellite into orbit for region monitoring.

- Define an ecological and sovereign sustainable development plan that respects the rights of nature.

- Strengthen the ACTO institutional capacity.

Rodriguez also emphasized that the Amazon countries are obliged to reinforce their sovereignty if they wish to preserve "the environmental soul of the planet."

"There is no other path. We must be frank... There are grave threats we cannot evade: the voracity of transnational pharmaceutical and food empires, the outsourcing of state functions, and the aspirations of NATO that target the commercialization of the Amazon basin," she stated.

"What is at stake here is a profound debate between an international economic order and a sustainable development model that ensures a true balance among land, oceans, and the atmosphere," Rodriguez added, recalling that the Venezuelan message is "unity, unity, unity."

"The organization must serve the political, economic, and territorial sovereignty of the countries that form the OTCA," she advocated.