CARACAS, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday proposed reviving the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) to protect South America's Amazon rainforest.

Addressing a High-Level Regional Dialogue on the theme of the "Amazon as a pillar of climate and life balance," held in Egypt, Maduro said reactivating the bloc would be key to conserving the forest.

"I think that the first step should be to revive the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization ... with its historical capacity to monitor the Amazon and its number of proposals for recovering" the embattled forest, Maduro said.

It is a responsibility of the South American countries "to stop the destruction of the Amazon and initiate a process of coordinated, efficient, conscious, active recovery of the Amazon," said the president.

Maduro hailed as "good news" the fact that Colombia and Brazil elected Gustavo Petro and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, respectively, as heads of state, noting their commitment to the preservation of the Amazon.

The dialogue was held as part of the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is taking place in Egypt.