Amazonian biodiversity: Indigenous convoy to bring focus to threats during Montreal summit

A delegation of Indigenous Amazonians will be a part of the upcoming 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) for the United Nations Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD). The delegation aims to draw attention to extractive industries, especially mining and fossil fuels, threatening biodiversity loss in the Amazon rainforest and threatening human rights across the biome.

The COP15 CBD is being held in Montreal, Canada, a haven for mining corporations, said a press release by non-profit Amazon Watch. Indigenous lands make up around 20 per cent of the Earth’s territory, containing 80 per cent of the world’s remaining biodiversity.

More than 75 per cent of the Amazon rainforest has been heading towards a tipping point since the early 2000s, a study published in March 2022 said. It may be losing its ability to bounce back from extreme events such as drought or fire, threatening to become a dry savanna-like ecosystem.

Read more: ‘Amazonian deforestation can trigger more droughts'

The Amazon rainforest is home to 30 per cent of the world’s species, comprising 40,000 plant species, 16,000 tree species, 1,300 birds and more than 430 species of mammals. 

Deforestation is on the rise in the region. Between July 2021 and August 2022, 11.56 square kilometres of the Amazon were deforested, according to the Brazilian National Research Institute INPE PRODES, a report by the non-profit Greenpeace said. 

From July 2021 to August 2022, 372,519 hectares of public forests and 28,248 hectares of Indigenous lands were deforested, indicating the advance of illegal activities such as invasion and land-grabbing in protected areas, the Greenpeace report further said.

Amazon Watch will be accompanied by members from organisations like the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples, Federation of Indigenous Peoples from Pará state, Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative and Brazil’s National Association of Ancestral Indigenous Women Warriors, said a press note. 

International coalition Amazonia For Life is calling for 80 per cent of the Amazon to be protected by 2025, which can only happen if world leaders hold country governments, corporations, and financiers of Amazon destruction accountable.

COP15 CBD is an international meeting bringing together governments from around the world. Participants will set out new goals to guide global action to preserve biodiversity through 2030 to halt and reverse nature loss.

The territories of Indigenous communities in the Amazon have been increasingly reported to be under threat.

Read more: Win for indigenous rights: Ecuador court halts mining project in Amazon

The territory of the Indigenous Kakataibo community of Puerto Nuevo in Peru lost 15 per cent of its tree cover between 2013 and 2021, reported environment website Mongabay. Satellite data suggest forest loss in the community territory may have accelerated in 2022, it added. 

The Amazon region has lost 10 per cent of its native vegetation, mostly tropical rainforest, in almost four decades, United Arab Emirates-based English daily The National said in a recent report.

From 1985 to 2021, the deforested area surged from 490,000 to 1,250,000 square kilometres, according to the Amazon Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information.

The numbers were calculated from annual satellite monitoring since 1985 from Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Surinam, Guyana and French Guiana. 

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