BRASILIA, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Brazil and other Latin American countries are coming under undue pressure to take steps to preserve the Amazon rainforest, Brazil's Vice President Hamilton Mourao said on Friday.

Addressing the virtual Third Presidential Summit of the Leticia Pact for the Amazon, Mourao said pact members need to unite against "scientifically groundless" pressure that seeks to "unduly transfer to our countries responsibility for necessary actions to reverse climate change and the loss of biodiversity."

"We must articulate and unite so that the voice of developing countries, particularly the Amazon's, is heard in a clear and coherent manner," he added.

Mourao, coordinator of the national Amazon Council, also said it was important to strengthen the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), which gathers the countries of the Amazon basin, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

"Let us strengthen our common determination and our sustainable development goals," Mourao said.