Why is it important for Amazon giants Brazil and Peru to ratify the Escazú Agreement?

It is a crucial time for the Amazon rainforest. Communities who have been part of the Amazon region for generations, are trying to defend their forest against (illegal) harmful activities, such as mining, cattle ranching, and logging. Deforestation of the Amazon threatens their way of life, decreases biodiversity, and increases climate change. The regional Escazú Agreement enables an important opportunity to make a difference to the rights of environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean. But Brazil and Peru, together covering 73 percent of the Amazon territory, have not ratified the treaty yet.

Header photo: area of the Indigenous community Kotsimba in Madre de Dios, Peru. © Diego Pérez/ SPDA

The Escazú Agreement

The Escazú Agreement is a binding political treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean to improve access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matter. It is the first environmental agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean, but it is also one in a kind worldwide. As the world’s first binding treaty with provisions on environmental and human rights activists, it is a ground-breaking instrument for the protection for nature and human rights.

The treaty went into force in 2021 and at this moment, 25 governments have signed. Out of them, 15 states have ratified the text: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Uruguay^[1]UNTC. (Updated October 2023). Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean.. In these countries, the treaty’s obligations are enforceable at a national level. Brazil and Peru have signed the agreement, but not ratified the text yet.

‘It is an opportunity for the Peruvian and Brazilian governments to curve the alarming trend of accelerated destruction of the largest remaining rainforest in the world, and violence against its inhabitants.’

Carolina Valladares, Expert Environmental Justice at IUCN NL

Peru and Brazil: Amazon giants

Most of the Amazon Rainforest is located in Brazil: 62 percent. Peru is the second country with the largest part of the Amazon, even though it concerns a much smaller fragment: 11 percent. Together, these countries cover 73 percent of the Amazon territory^[2]Statista. (2020). Distribution of the Amazon land area as of 2020, by country..

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been decreasing significantly, with an impressive drop of over 60 percent in the past year^[3]The Guardian. (2023). Amazon deforestation falls over 60% compared with last July, says Brazilian minister.. Nevertheless, the region’s communities still experience the consequences of extractive human activities such as (illegal) mining, cattle ranching, and logging. In Peru, there are no signs of a fall in deforestation rates yet^[4]Mongabay. (2023). Forest conservation efforts in Peru are failing across the board, study says..

It is important for these countries to ratify the Esazú Agreement, shares Carolina Valladares, Expert Environmental Justice at IUCN NL. ‘It is an opportunity for the Peruvian and Brazilian governments to curve the alarming trend of accelerated destruction of the largest remaining rainforest in the world, and violence against its inhabitants.’

Environmental defenders in Peru and Brazil

The challenges environmental defenders in Peru and Brazil face are enormous. In addition to economic and political pressure, they face intimidation, violence and, in some cases, they are killed. Peru is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for environmental defenders, ranking ninth in the 2021 Global Witness report^[5]Global Witness. (2021). Last line of defence.. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 15 environmental defenders have been killed in the Amazon country, of which two in Madre de Dios.

In Brazil, 34 defenders lost their lives in 2022, compared to 26 in 2021^[6]Global Witness. (2023). Standing firm.. Despite the decreasing deforestation rate, the risks for people defending their land seem to have not yet reached a turning point. The policies of former president Jair Bolsonaro ‘have undermined environmental institutions and have fuelled illegal invasions of indigenous lands,’ according to Global Witness (2023).

The country’s current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has ambitious environmental plans, including improving the protection of environmental rights, but the Brazilian Congress does not always align with his environmental policy complicating its implementation^[7]Mongabay. (2023). The counterstrike: Brazilian Congress moves to block Lula’s environmental agenda.. In May this year, President Lula sent the treaty to the Brazilian Congress for ratification^[8]Swissinfo. (2023). Ministro del Brasil anuncia envio del Acuerdo de Escazú al Parlamento para ser ratificado., but so far this did not happen yet.

In both Amazon countries, civil society groups participate in platforms to inform people, promote their participation in the COP meetings of the Esazú Agreement, and to advocate among their governments to ratify the agreement^[9]Escazú Ahora Peru.^[10]Movimento Escazú Brasil..

‘By ratifying the Escazú Agreement, the governments of Perú and Brasil will send an important signal to the world of their commitment to guarantee the rights of Indigenous peoples and environmental defenders, and to protect the Amazon.’

Carolina Valladares, Expert Environmental Justice at IUCN NL

Guaranteeing environmental rights at a regional level

To protect the work of environmental human rights defenders, effective national policy ensuring their rights is essential. At the same time, the threats they are facing are often transboundary, pushed by the surging global demand for commodities and caused by internationally operating companies and organized crime groups.

The Escazú Agreement is one of the first agreements that directly links environment to human rights. Among other things, the treaty contains a specific clause that obliges states to guarantee and facilitate the safe participation of environmental human rights defenders in political decision-making, and to prevent threats and violence.

‘By ratifying the Escazú Agreement, the governments of Perú and Brasil will send an important signal to the world of their commitment to guarantee the rights of Indigenous peoples and environmental defenders, and to protect the Amazon,’ states Carolina Valladares.

According to Mongabay, Peruvian experts and lawyers consider the Escazú Agreement to be an essential tool to promote access to justice in environmental matters in their country^[11]Mongabay. (2022). “Aquí falta Perú”: organizaciones civiles e indígenas peruanos exigen ratificación del Acuerdo de Escazú en primera COP.. The environmental news platform points out that during the past decade, reporting violations of their territorial rights has becoming increasing risky for Indigenous peoples.  

The power of the Escazú Agreement lies in its regional approach. As long as the two Amazon giants are not obligated to implement the treaty, the smaller Amazon countries will be left alone.

PIDDA: strengthening the work of environmental defenders

With the support of the French Development Agency (AFD), Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental (SPDA) and IUCN NL strengthen the work of environmental defenders, especially Indigenous women, in Madre de Dios in Peru. Together with local partner organisations, we aim to improve the national protection system for environmental defenders through the project PIDDA: inclusive protection of environmental defenders.