Indigenous Groups Push to Protect 80 Percent of Amazon From Deforestation
Aerial view showing smoke from a fire billowing from the Amazon rainforest in Oiapoque, Amapa state, Brazil, on the border with French Guiana, on October 31, 2020, where members of the Brazilian Armed Forces are conducting a military exercise as part of the Agata operation. - The Agata operation carried out by the Armed Forces, Federal Police, Federal Revenue and the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), consists in combating drug and arms trafficking, smuggling, illegal mining and fishing, boat theft and irregular transportation of wood and fuel, in the states of Para and Amapa. NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP via Getty Images

Indigenous groups in Brazil are urging world leaders to support their new target to protect 80 percent of the Amazon from deforestation by 2025.

Indigenous groups are saying that bold action is needed to stop deforestation in the Earth's largest rainforest before the effects come to the point that it cannot be reversed, according to an Aljazeera report.

The Amazonian indigenous have launched their target on Sunday during a nine-day conference in Marseille, France.

Several thousand officials, scientists, and campaigners are present at the conference, laying the foundation for United Nations talks on biodiversity in the Kunming next year.

Jose Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, the lead coordinator for COICA, said that they are inviting the global community to join them in reversing the destruction of their home.

COICA represents the Indigenous groups in nine Amazon-basin nations.

The group also wants Congress to endorse its "Amazonia80x2025" declaration to give the proposal a chance of gaining attention in Kunming, according to a Voice of America News report.

Amazon Deforestation

Under 50 percent of the Amazon basin is currently under some form of official indigenous stewardship.

However, pressure from mining and oil exploration, as well as ranching is growing, according to a Reuters report.

Deforestation has grown since President Jair Bolsonaro became the president of Brazil in 2019. It has reached a 12-year high last year, which had gained international traction.

The rainforest has lost 10,476 square kilometers between August 2020 and July 2021. The lost area was nearly seven times bigger than Greater London.

In addition, it can also be compared to being 13 times the size of New York City.

Data released by Imazon also noted that the figure is 57 percent higher than in the previous year and is considered worst since 2012, according to The Guardian report.

Carlos Souza, a researcher at Imazon, said that deforestation is still out of control, adding that Brazil is going against the global climate agenda.

Souza has called out the government to act on the ongoing enforcement of illegal agriculture-led deforestation in the region.

Bolsonaro has deployed thousands of soldiers to combat illegal deforestation and fires as a response.

However, Marcio Astrini said the policy has been ineffective. Astrini is the Climate Observatory executive-secretary.

Former environment minister Ricardo Salles had resigned amid a criminal investigation in June. The investigation is about allegations that a police investigation into illegal Amazon logging was blocked.

Militant groups in the Amazon have taken the matter into their own hands when it comes to protecting the forest from illegal land grabbers, loggers, and miners.

However, many of the Guajajara Guardian members live in constant danger, according to a Vox report. At least 113 indigenous people were killed in the country in 2019, with the majority of those were committed to the protection of the borders of their territories.

Those who were killed have also fought against logging and mining.

Some of the members are armed. However, the group's chief noted that the group uses nonviolence in their work.

With the current rate of deforestation, the Amazon could be turned into savannas.

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Written by Mary Webber

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