![]() “The movement is saying, if we need to stop fossil fuels globally, then the Amazon should be the place where we start,” said Alex Rafalowicz, global director for a coalition of environmental groups that are campaigning for a “fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty” that would commit nations to phasing out production. But a growing body of evidence suggests that deforestation and climate-driven wildfires are tipping portions of the rainforest to becoming sources of carbon dioxide, rather than sinks. The basin has long acted as one of the world’s largest stores of carbon, absorbing huge amounts of climate pollution released by fossil fuels. The country is set to vote on August 20 on a referendum that would halt development of a large oil field underneath a national park.Īctivists have focused their campaign on the rights of Indigenous people and also on the unique role the Amazon plays in the global climate. This month could also prove pivotal for oil development in Ecuador, the largest exporter of Amazonian crude. In May, Brazil’s environmental agency blocked an offshore drilling project by the state-run oil company in waters close to the mouth of the Amazon River. Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a leftist who took office last year, published an op-ed last month in the Miami Herald calling on all nations of the Amazon to phase out oil and gas development within the rainforest. Now, activists and Indigenous groups across the region are seizing on several developments to try to block that expansion. The Amazon basin has seen renewed efforts to expand drilling into new areas in recent years as governments and oil companies have sought to replace declining production from decades-old fields in Ecuador, Peru and other countries.Įxisting or planned oil and gas development blocks cover an estimated 250,000 square miles of undisturbed forest across the basin, according to a report last year by the environmental group Earth InSight, an area that is home to more than 12 million people. ![]() ![]() When leaders of eight Amazon nations gathered this week in Brazil for a summit on deforestation, they also played host to a growing movement by civil society groups to phase out oil and gas development within the world’s largest tropical rainforest. ![]()
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