Bolivia Calls for Unified Amazon Proposal Ahead of COP30

Bolivian President Luis Arce has urged the development of a single, unified proposal to defend the Amazon and its inhabitants at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), set to take place in Brazil this November.

Arce advanced the initiative to the leaders of Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador in a joint declaration at the close of the Fifth Summit of the Heads of State of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), held Friday in Bogotá, Colombia.

“With joint and coordinated work among all countries we will arrive with a united, unique, homogeneous and monolithic proposal to make heard the voice not only of governments but above all of civil society and our Indigenous peoples at COP30,” Arce said.

He presented the idea to Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Ecuador’s Vice President María José Pinto, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Earlier at the summit, Arce stressed that ACTO nations must play a leading role in global climate discussions.

Reflecting on the meeting, Arce described it as “quite productive” but acknowledged “there are tasks we must continue to carry out.” He noted that Indigenous representatives had shared urgent needs, which Bolivia’s own Amazonian communities also face. “There are pending tasks, we will continue working. I believe this is a very important meeting, but one that also leaves us a legacy to continue working even more, especially with a view to COP30,” he emphasized.

Bolivia has long promoted the defense of Pachamama, or Mother Earth, as a core principle of its multilateral agenda. At the Bogotá summit, Bolivia secured support from other nations to include in the declaration several initiatives, such as establishing Amazon Basin Day, creating the Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Mechanism, and advancing a program on Amazon fruits.

These proposals will shape the agenda for ACTO member states at COP30, scheduled for November 10–21 in Belém, Brazil.

COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago noted that regional treaties such as ACTO will be “fundamental to the most important environmental summit of the year.” He added, “ACTO is one of those organizations that has managed to strengthen itself significantly and will play a key role at COP30.”