00:00 And now we go live to Brazil to listen and to watch the remarks
00:04 of the president of that nation, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva,
00:07 as he's hosting the gathering of the Amazon forest.
00:10 It's a pleasure for me to receive you all here in Belém.
00:27 In October in 1980, the first meeting of this kind was held.
00:32 Today, we go back to Belém to think and act together.
00:42 Because in this summit, a new dream borns.
00:54 For a long time, the dreams of others
00:59 have been imposed to us, which has apart us
01:04 from our dream, our Amazonian dream.
01:06 For many years, the Amazon has been seen as a barrier
01:13 between our countries.
01:18 The projects and the racism has been affecting and creating
01:30 violence towards indigenous people.
01:44 Together with all kinds of industrial interventions
01:53 in the Amazonas have destroyed growth and development
02:00 of this area, especially the people
02:06 who lives in the countryside, the trees, and the forest.
02:11 We seek to redirect our path towards achieving
02:19 our institutionality and also to guarantee
02:30 environmental rights, ecological economies, and thoughts.
02:38 We need to preserve in order to be able to provide
02:43 to future generations.
02:45 Through the past years, with a lot of effort,
02:57 we have been able to predict, to detect fires
03:03 throughout the zone.
03:05 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
03:10 We created, as well, new laws to protect
03:14 the environment and the communities who
03:16 live near that area.
03:18 We were able to reduce deforestation
03:31 by 83% in the Amazon.
03:34 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
03:40 We also contributed to diminish toxic gases,
03:45 the emission of toxic gases to the atmosphere.
03:47 All of this has proved that in environmental politics,
03:59 environmental programs that protect the nature,
04:04 we are still able to advance and to develop
04:08 our countries economically.
04:09 The former president did not provide or respect
04:25 environmental politics.
04:27 And that led to a path of destruction
04:30 and to a set of problems that we're trying to solve now.
04:34 And all the damage that national companies,
04:48 international companies, caused to the forests
04:52 in the Amazonas was a tribute to indigenous people who
04:56 had nothing to do with this destruction and the effect
05:00 that it caused on the forest.
05:02 During this time, the leaders, environmental leaders,
05:11 indigenous leaders, suffered all kinds of attacks and violence
05:16 just because they were trying to protect
05:21 a territory that belongs to the people
05:24 and has always belonged to the people.
05:26 The creation of the Ministry of Indigenous People,
05:42 ever since the first case they dealt with,
05:45 have been able to preserve and defend
05:49 the rights of the indigenous people and the nature as well.
05:52 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
06:00 We were able to overcome all of these problems
06:06 and receive cooperation with the organizations
06:13 inside of the country as well as with international partners.
06:17 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
06:27 The Amazonas is the biggest forest
06:32 and one of the biggest natural reserves that the world has.
06:39 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
06:47 In this territory, we have all sorts of animals and plants.
06:54 Some of them are still none, but all of them
06:56 form part of the nature that we all have the right
07:01 to share and enjoy.
07:02 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
07:10 The Amazonas is not only plants and animals.
07:15 Amazonas also means people.
07:19 A lot of people live there.
07:20 And there are indigenous people and also are Amazonas cities.
07:26 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
07:33 There are 400 indigenous people who
07:36 live there who speak all kinds of several languages
07:41 and are the ones who actually know the whole area.
07:45 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
07:52 And in order to find a solution for the problems that
07:56 Amazonas is facing right now, we need
07:58 to listen to mainly the indigenous people,
08:03 the governments, and the civilians who
08:05 live in nearby areas, who are the ones who
08:08 are living the problem and can provide, offer,
08:12 or at least propose solutions.
08:14 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
08:28 In spite of the thousands of people who live in that region,
08:37 there are criminal organizations who
08:45 are creating unstable environment
08:49 and are promoting violence in this area.
08:52 And this kind of criminal organization
08:58 has been reduced 40% in the past years.
09:02 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
09:08 We want to establish in Manaus a center of cooperation,
09:12 international cooperation, to protect the region.
09:17 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
09:30 We want to create new organizations
09:34 guarded by civil guards.
09:37 We also want to establish an aerial control center.
09:53 The government is committed to have a just transition
10:03 to a new path, ecological path, that
10:09 benefits both the economy and the people who
10:12 live in this area.
10:13 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
10:25 With the National Program for Risk,
10:29 we want to reinforce the food, the elements that
10:40 are provided by nature.
10:42 We want to protect the forest.
10:43 We also want to guarantee the safety of the people
10:56 and the leaders who defend nature's right
11:00 and the people's right.
11:11 We are basing the treaty, the Hamas treaty,
11:17 signed decades ago.
11:18 Based on this treaty, we created the first environmental block
11:30 in the world.
11:37 Our mission right now is to create an organization for
11:54 protecting the area and engaging other organizations
11:58 to join this cause.
12:01 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
12:08 To reinforce the fight for environmental rights
12:12 to engage young people as well.
12:15 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
12:25 The Amazonian Observatory will provide information and
12:38 resources for public politics.
12:41 We will take into account the work and investigations
12:55 of specialists who work in the Amazon in order
12:58 to take into account their positions,
13:04 the result of those investigations,
13:07 for creating new programs that both protect the environment
13:12 and take into account the result of those investigations.
13:16 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
13:25 The Amazon is not and cannot be considered
13:29 as resources, storage.
13:35 It has to be considered as a living entity who also needs
13:42 to be taken into account.
13:44 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
13:51 Forests are not a space that need to be occupied.
13:55 Forests need to be protected and cultivated
14:04 because we owe our existence to them.
14:07 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
14:16 The forests are our main concerns.
14:23 We need to, besides dealing with the main problems
14:33 of each region, each region has certain particularities that
14:38 need to be taken into account.
14:40 But what we need the most is to unite forces
14:46 to be able to protect and provide
14:54 for the well-being of the forest and the indigenous people
14:58 and the urban areas surrounding the Amazonas as well.
15:01 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
15:10 I would also like to highlight the fact
15:14 that the resources, the Amazonic resources,
15:18 would not be exploited for benefits of a few people.
15:22 It would be exploited.
15:22 It would be-- we will take into account the people,
15:28 indigenous people, and the rest of the population
15:31 when we are dealing with the Amazonic resources.
15:34 I hope that every person, every city, every tree
15:49 find their place in this new vision we are creating right
15:54 now and have been creating for the past years.
15:57 To establish and to provide for the well-being of the forest,
16:08 the Amazonas, the rivers, we need
16:16 to provide for Amazonas who is free of hungers
16:22 and belongs to all citizens that live in this area.
16:28 The Amazonas is awakening right now
16:41 with a new set of dreams and measures
16:44 that I hope change the current situation.
16:51 And I hope that we finish this summit
16:57 and go back to each country, to our nation, with a new vision
17:07 and with the conviction that we are
17:09 responsible for the well-being of the Amazonas
17:15 and the people who live there.
17:17 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
17:23 We need to talk about the Amazonas.
17:25 We need to establish a dialogue through education.
17:34 We need to talk about the Amazonas in schools.
17:37 We need to make children understand
17:46 the importance of the Amazonas.
17:47 And we need to help the parents as well,
17:49 because older generations do not have a full understanding
17:55 of the importance of caring about the well-being
17:58 of the Amazonas.
17:59 Everybody has been talking about the Amazonas
18:15 for a few years now.
18:17 But right now is when we are really actually addressing
18:22 the problem, addressing the topic.
18:25 And now, more than ever, the Amazonas need to be heard.
18:29 This is our commitment.
18:44 And we need to do everything in our power
18:48 to be able to reach our main goal,
18:55 because we own a very large and rich area that needs
19:03 and demands to be protected.
19:05 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
19:17 Each country needs to address the Amazonas problem
19:22 from their perspective.
19:24 But we also need to unite forces and thoughts in order
19:28 to solve this problem together.
19:31 [SPEAKING SPANISH]
19:41 Now we will give the word to President Luis Arce.
