This past Monday, we witnessed the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France for its 45th meeting. In this international and intergovernmental organization, seven of the largest and advanced economies in the world meet at least once a year to discuss key issues. Included in this group are powerhouse nations such as Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, and the United States.

However, in an unexpected turn of events, one world leader failed to show up at the beginning of the 3-day summit: President Donald Trump of the United States. Despite lacking the main [leader] of the 7th party, the remainder of the group continued on. During one of the sessions on Monday, they addressed topics of biodiversity and the climate.

Discussing the burning Amazon

The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest. As an ecosystem that is twice the size of India, it covers at least 40% of South America’s entirety. With this span, the rainforest has become home to 1 in 10 known species in the world.

Since the beginning of 2019, fires have been burning across the Amazonian region. As a result, 1.4 billion acres of dense forests are being put in danger.

Within the Amazon, 90 to 140 billion metric tons of carbon is deposited within its rainforest. As fires continue to burn down forestry, large amounts of carbon are being released into the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, this excess of greenhouse gases is a direct cause of a rise in global temperatures. While the world is already reaching its threshold, there is only a limited amount of time to prevent irreversible damage.

Many are taking note of the catastrophic events that may soon follow — the members of G7 included.

Action items from the G7 Summit

Earlier this week, the representatives from six of the G7 nations agreed to provide aid to the countries fighting the Amazon rainforest fires.

Following the summit’s meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the group agreed to pour $20 million towards immediate financial and logistical support. This includes funding firefighting planes.

In this same announcement, Macron noted that although Trump was not present at the meeting, his team was. As a result, Macron continued to state that the U.S. stood in agreement with the remainder of the G7 Summit. However, many are still waiting to hear an official and genuine response from President Trump.