Amazon summit ends without consensus on oil exploration

Representatives of eight countries with Amazon rainforest met in Belém, capital of Brazil’s Pará state, to discuss environmental conservation, while major differences over oil exploration emerged.

After the summit, representatives from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela issued a letter outlining 100 conservation measures, including increased monitoring and action against illegal mining and deforestation. However, the participants failed to reach consensus on specific policies.

One objective of the summit was to strengthen the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, created in 1995.

"We have to evaluate the results of this summit taking into account that there was no meeting of this group of countries since 2009, so there is a huge deficit in relation to the urgent issues to be addressed regarding the Amazon," Sergio Leitão, head of sustainability NGO Instituto Escolhas, told BNamericas.

“I see the fact that the meeting took place now as a fact to celebrate. But it will be necessary to move on to the next step, which is to transform this forum for debating suggestions into a place where decisions can be made.”

Observers expected major announcements on emissions reductions and oil and gas exploration or mining bans.

Instead, a rift between Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, became visible, as the former demanded an end to oil exploration in the Amazon, while the latter’s administration is mulling allowing federal oil firm Petrobras to drill Equatorial Margin block FZA-M-59 in the Foz do Amazonas basin.

"The Equatorial Margin is a new strategic exploratory frontier not only for Brazil, but for the global oil and gas industry. The geological similarities between the Equatorial Margin and the West African coast and, above all, with the sedimentary basins of Guyana and Suriname, where offshore reserves were discovered that could exceed 10Bb of recoverable oil, amplyfing the appetite of the energy industry in this area," Mahatma Santos, head of petroleum, gas and biofuels think tank Ineep told BNamericas.

Lula’s presidential campaign had a heavy environmental focus, and deforestation has decreased markedly since he took office in January. But he also deems the drilling license crucial to contribute to economic performance.

"The great factor in evaluating the Brazilian image abroad is connected to deforestation and everything that influences it, such as illegal mining, logging and oil exploration. The lack of control of deforestation is what really affects the image of Brazil abroad," said Leitão.

“Oil exploration will create constraints on Brazil's image abroad, but this will only have a more relevant impact if, in fact, exploration will result in an increase in deforestation and, in a more drastic scenario, some success in the exploration phase,” he added.

Leitão said the government needs to focus on other growth drivers, such as reforestation, to reduce local pressure in favor of oil exploration, which, looking at neighboring countries, residents see as beneficial.

But Petrobras is seen as up to the task of combining operations and sustainability.

"Petrobras has historically proven to be a competent company in adapting its activities to existing technical challenges. The broad sensitivity of biodiversity in the region of Foz do Amazonas and the Equatorial Margin poses new challenges for the company, from a technical-operational point of view, but also in terms of social and environmental sustainability parameters," said Santos.

João Montenegro contributed to this article.