Amazon at risk: climate change threatens region Amazon ecosystem vulnerable deforestation devastates forests poor water quality affects health.

They read like the headlines of some sensationalist newspaper, but they aren't. These are some of the disturbing facts detailed in the Global Environmental Outlook assessment of the Amazon Basin area (GEO Amazonia) recently conducted by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA). It might sound like science fiction, but it's real. The study was conducted by 150 experts from eight countries of the Amazon Basin and it concludes that the current "style of economic growth has had a huge impact" on the "lungs" of planet Earth.

"This publication represents more than two years of work. It includes information from Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Guyana, Venezuela, and Suriname, and it shows that the Amazon is changing quickly," says Rody Onate, the Chilean regional communications officer for UNEP in Panama. Fortunately, the document also shows that governments appear to be taking some concrete steps to combat the crisis.

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Recommendations published in GEO Amazonia include a call for nations to work together to face the challenges. According to these recommendations, the countries of the Amazon Basin should formulate a single integrated vision as a first step. Second, they should prioritize national environmental policies that have an effect on the region as a whole and design an integrated strategy that will allow nations to share resource management and the sustainable use of ecosystems. The recommendations also call for strengthening the institutionality of environmental work, investing in education and research, and monitoring the impact of policies, projects, and programs.

Americas spoke with Antonio Brack, Peru's Environment Minister in order to hear the Peruvian perspective. "Destroying the treasures of the forest has produced poverty rather than wealth," he said. "But interesting changes are occurring that indicate a way forward. Por example, in Madre de Dios, in the southeastern jungle area of Peru on the borders with Brazil and Bolivia, 772 square miles have been given in concession to tourism enterprises that conserve the forest in order to attract tourists. Evidence is showing that forests can be managed and used in a sustainable way for ecotourism, nut collection, and other things. But these changes are not happening everywhere."

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Guillermo Reano, director of the Institute of Conservation and Cultures, is leading an educational campaign to envision possible solutions in the Amazon. He agrees with GEO Amazonia experts that the key is territorial zoning. "We have to divide up the area and designate how it will be used in the future. With zoning, we can create spaces for the national parks that protect biodiversity to coexist with environmentally friendly business projects. It's possible to have a scenario where responsible tourism enterprises generate dividends for local communities and people work together for a healthy and sustainable Amazon. It would be a meeting of minds and the possibility of building a sensible alternative for comprehensive management," Reano says.

For Antonio Brack, the Amazon is clearly the most strategic area in the world in terms of climate change. "If we cut down all the forests in the Amazon, we will be emitting 200 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere which would make global warming much worse. But, if the degraded lands of the Amazon Basin could be reforested and those new trees began to capture CO2 again, they could heal the planet," he concludes.

Will the countries of the Amazon Basin be ready to confront this challenge? The most hopeful thing about the GEO Amazonia report is clear: with good strategies and the commitment of nations, we can reestablish the natural cycles of the great green lungs of our planet. In fact, the stability of the entire continent depends on it.