Amazon nations seek common voice on climate change, urge developed world to help protect rainforest

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE and DAVID BILLER
Associated Press

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Leaders from South American nations that are home to the Amazon are challenging developed countries to do more to stop massive destruction of the world’s largest rainforest. The members of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization said Tuesday that wealthy nations need to step up their commitments to save a region they have taken long tapped and whose preservation is vital to combating climate change. They note the task can’t fall to just a handful of countries when the crisis has been caused by so many. ACTO members also sought to chart a common course on how to combat climate change, hoping a united front will give them a major voice in global climate talks.