Lula vowed bold action to stop the destruction of the world's biggest rainforest at the two-day meeting of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) in the northern city of Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon river.
"This is a landmark meeting. It will mark a turning point in the history of protecting the Amazon," the veteran leftist said before opening the gathering.
It is the first summit in 14 years for the eight-nation group, set up in 1995 by the South American countries that share the Amazon basin: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
Home to an estimated 10 percent of Earth's biodiversity, 50 million people and hundreds of billions of trees, the vast Amazon is a vital carbon sink, reducing global warming.
But scientists warn the destruction of the rainforest is pushing it dangerously close to a "tipping point," beyond which trees would die off and release carbon rather than absorb it, with catastrophic consequences for the climate.
The summit opened the same day the European Union's climate observatory confirmed July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, in a new warning of the climate's fragility.
In his opening speech, Lula emphasised the "severe worsening of the climate crisis."
"The challenges of our era, and the opportunities arising from them, demand we act in unison," he said.
"It has never been so urgent."
The secretary-general of the ACTO, Alexandra Moreira, said the summit would produce a joint declaration setting out "energetic, bold" actions to protect the rainforest.
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