Regional Cooperation in Amazonia

Book excerpt: In Regional Cooperation in Amazonia: A Comparative Environmental Law Analysis, Maria Antonia Tigre provides a broad overview of the international, regional and national law applied to the Amazon rainforest and investigates efforts at regional cooperation for the protection of the Amazonian ecosystem. For the last four decades, cooperation among the eight countries in which the rainforest lies was primarily induced by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT). Originally adopted to ensure national sovereignty, the ACT gradually evolved towards a framework for sustainable development. Based on the challenges faced by the treaty and its subsequent instruments, Maria Antonia Tigre analyzes ways in which the ACT can be more effectively applied, leading to practical results that reduce deforestation. These specifically relate to the enforceability of the right to the environment, the implementation of protected areas, and the development of financial mechanisms to fund initiatives.