Amazon Leaders’ Pledges Mask Deeper Failures in Forest Protection

Last week in Bogota, South American leaders gathered under the banner of protecting the Amazon rainforest — a region critical not only to their nations but to the entire world’s climate stability. Yet as Presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador’s Vice President pledged cooperation through the newly minted “Declaration of Bogota,” hard questions remain about the effectiveness of such agreements. Will Political Rhetoric Stop the Amazon’s Decline? The summit produced another set of promises: stronger Indigenous involvement, direct financing mechanisms for native communities, and coordination through the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). But will these lofty words translate into...