The Brazilian government has scheduled a meeting for early August to revive the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization.

The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, ACTO, brings together the countries that make up the Amazon.

The meeting will aim to determine a united position for the region on development and on fighting the climate crisis in international forums.

The gathering will be held in in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará and gateway to Brazil's lower Amazon region.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hopes to have the unified ACTO position established in time for his speech at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in September, with the aim of placing the protection of the Amazon and it peoples prominently on the international agenda.

The resumption of ACTO, comprising of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, is one of the key goals of President da Silva's new government.

ACTO can be used to establish a united front among the Amazon countries and also to attract sustainable investment to the region with the aims of combating deforestation, protecting indigenous peoples, and advancing development.

President da Silva's predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, whose administration was extremely hostile to the Amazon rainforest and to the indigenous peoples who live in the rainforest and work to protect it.

While president from 2019 to 2022, Mr Bolsonaro presided over a massive surge in illegal mining and deforestation on indigenous lands.

Earlier this year Brazilian government forces began a mass operation to drive illegal gold miners out of a region of the Amazon rainforest which belongs to the Yanomami indigenous nation.

Mr Bolsonaro is on the record making derogatory statements about Brazil's indigenous people and, on at least two occasions, praising the US Cavalry "who exterminated the Indians".

In January President da Silva said his predecessor's government had committed genocide in Yanomami territory by allowing illegal mine operations to poison water and food supplies and by dismantling vital services in the region.

There was also a dramatic surge in fires in the Amazon rainforest during the Bolsonaro presidency, with many of the fires believed to be deliberately lit by forces seeking to drive out, if not kill, indigenous peoples by destroying their homes and livelihoods.