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The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and one of our most important carbon sinks, but the climate crisis could soon turn it into a carbon source.
This year, the Amazon River has been experiencing its worst drought in history, while the rainforest has seen its worst fires in almost 20 years – shrouding up to half of South America in smoke.
So, how are Amazonian countries dealing with these unprecedented challenges?
Covering an area of 6.74 million square kilometers, the Amazon biome covers eight countries and one territory: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
These countries are now working closely together to protect one of the most biodiverse parts of the planet, strengthening ties through agreements like the Belém Declaration, signed during the Amazon Summit in 2023, and the Leticia Pact, established in 2019.
But these agreements have also been criticized for lacking clear goals. Will they be enough to save the Amazon from the climate crisis?
The Amazon’s challenges do not respect national boundaries – and nowhere is that more evident than in the so-called triple frontier region between the towns of Tabatinga (Brazil), Santa Rosa do Yavari (Peru) and Leticia (Colombia).
Since August, the record-low water levels in the Amazon River and its tributaries have already affected subsistence fishing, tourism and the supply of drinking water to local Indigenous communities.
In this tri-border area, it takes only five minutes by boat to cover all three countries.
In the city of Leticia, the Cihtacoyd community, home to 20 families, is among those feeling the effects of the climate crisis.
During the dry season, it faces water shortages when the river’s waters are low.
This year, however, has been much worse than usual. The community only has a single source of water left as the others have dried up.
The Cihtacoyd families come from a variety of ethnic groups such as the Boras, Ocarinas, Mirañas and Tanimucas – all of whom were forcibly displaced from their original territories due to the country’s long and ongoing armed conflict.
For the past six years, the community’s leader, Silvestre Teteye, has been based in Leticia’s kilometer 22.
He says their water supply has been limited by an inefficient distribution system ever since they moved to the area. This year’s historic drought has made the situation even worse.
“Many Indigenous people are already bringing water from the city center, which is 25 kilometers away,” he says.
Teteye also explains that international organizations have provided them with water filters since the COVID-19 pandemic, but this does not solve the problem as there is not enough water to begin with.
“For us Indigenous people, water is the source of life. If we don’t have water, we have nothing,” says Teteye.
The drought has also impacted tourism in the tri-border area, impacting Indigenous communities who rely on it as a source of income.
For example, Experiencias Amazonas Maloca Baru, a tourism agency founded by Indigenous Ticuna leader Saulo Ahue and his family, saw its operational costs increase by 20 percent due to the low river levels.
Since August, tourists have not been able to directly reach the community of Macedonia, where Ahue and his family host visitors. Last year, Maloca Baru welcomed 380 tourists, supporting the livelihoods of 30 Indigenous families.
“To reach our community, tourists now have to go through Mocagua, which increases my operational costs and their travel time.”
It takes roughly two hours to travel between Leticia and Mocagua by speedboat.
“Through tourism, my parents were able to give me an education,” Ahue explains.
“I became an architect. So, tourism generates extra income for the community. It’s how we sell many of our handicrafts.”
As the climate crisis intensifies and spills across national borders, Amazonian research institutes have joined forces to strengthen international cooperation and enhance synergies.
One example is the Bioamazonia Network, which was established in February 2024 and comprises seven research institutes from Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.
Coordinated by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and supported by the Green Climate Fund, the network aims to promote the creation and exchange of knowledge on biodiversity, as well as the development and transfer of innovations and technologies for an Amazonian bioeconomy.
The network’s technical secretary, Daniel Lage, is thrilled with the amount of international funding and attention the Amazon rainforest has received in recent years. “But we know that we would require much more money to be effective at the pace we need,” he warns.
Amazonian countries have enjoyed a swell in funding for cross-border projects since the signing of the Leticia Pact in 2019, says Rafael Anta, a principal specialist in the Competitiveness, Technology and Innovation Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
The IADB led the management of the initial USD 2 million investment that enabled the launch of the Bioamazonia Network. Anta explains that these funds are mainly used for research and technological development to foster economic and social growth in the biome and to apply technology to real-world scenarios.
Still, these projects don’t allocate enough resources to biodiversity, according to Luz Marina Mantilla Cárdenas, director general of the SINCHI Institute in Colombia and director of the Bioamazonia Network.
“We face many challenges because most resources are directed toward issues related to deforestation and climate change, and there is no clear pathway that involves climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity,” she explains.
While the Bioamazonia Network brings together researchers from across the Amazonian region to forge much-needed collaborations, Anta concedes that this hasn’t come without its challenges.
“Each institute is different,” he emphasizes. “No two are the same. They share a goal and a mission but also have unique objectives.”
Their relationships with parent institutions can also hinder research development and access to funding, as each institute is connected to a different ministry in its home country.
Engaging with the private sector has also proven tricky. “There’s a preconception that the private sector is evil. Many institutes don’t know how to work with businesses,” says Anta.
“We need to break this stigma and help the institutes collaborate better with the private sector.”
Lage says the Bioamazonia Network will be driven by co-creation and dialogue rather than a top-down approach.
“In the Amazon, everyone wants a project to call their own, but without the humility to engage in dialogue with local actors, and without patience, because projects take time to implement,” he points out.
Instead, Lage stresses the importance of recognizing the diversity of traditional communities that inhabit the forest.
“The principles of each project, however, should be the same: keep the forest standing, and protect Indigenous Peoples and the biome. And these principles should become the rule, not the exception,” he concludes.
This means tailoring projects to meet local needs and coordinating with local governments when needed, Mantilla adds.
“Border societies have particular needs, and they are very dynamic,” she says.
For instance, the triple frontier towns of Leticia, Tabatinga and Santa Rosa can only be accessed by boat, with no roads connecting them with the rest of their respective countries.
Mantilla also raises the example of communities in the Colombian Amazon, many of which, like Cihtacoyd, have been displaced from their territories by conflict.
“That’s why it’s necessary to intensify this cooperation and preserve biodiversity,” she explains.
Diplomacy is also playing a crucial role in bringing Amazonian countries together.
Established in 1978, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA) is an intergovernmental organization devoted to preserving the Amazon biome through cooperation.
This cooperation has not always been easy. “The problem of deforestation is the same, but the solution is not the same,” says Carlos Salinas, OTCA’s environmental coordinator, emphasizing the unique characteristics of each country.
“Each country’s environmental legislation is not necessarily harmonious among all OTCA members,” he adds.
OTCA’s goal has historically been to reduce power asymmetries both between and within its member states, which comprise the eight independent countries in the Amazon region.
However, given the current challenges facing the biome, the countries have recognized the need for a new cooperation agenda.
Now, OTCA is developing its own financial mechanism, which is currently under discussion with member countries and will be presented at the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil.
But some Indigenous groups say the organization isn’t doing enough to include them in its processes.
Crucially, it has yet to develop a process to directly provide international funding to Indigenous communities to carry out projects and allow them to keep protecting their territories, says Ginny Katherine Alba Medina, technical secretary of the human rights commission for Indigenous Peoples of the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Colombia (OPIAC).
OPIAC represents the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon at national and international institutions, defending their rights.
While OPIAC doesn’t receive funds from international donors directly, Alba says it would be beneficial for it to participate more actively in projects implemented in Indigenous communities.
She argues that these communities should not only have a place at the table to make decisions but also receive funding directly, rather than through intermediaries.
These funds would then be used by local people to run projects in their own communities, rather than by external entities to implement.
“It would be much easier if we were involved in these discussions because it would enhance our organizational and administrative capacity,” she suggests.
Currently, less than 1 percent of international climate aid reaches Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
This issue is currently being discussed at the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16), where delegates are working to develop a funding mechanism to channel funds directly to Indigenous communities.
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