New Brazilian government to prioritize combating deforestation and defending environment

As one of its priorities, the new Brazilian government will fight against deforestation and in defense of the environment, assured on Monday, November 14, Brazil’s vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin.

In a press conference, Alckmin stressed that the fight against climate change is a major concern for the new government.

“Carbon emission, in the case of Brazil, if you add up motorcycle, car, airplane, boat, train, cow, factory exhaust, landfills, lack of sanitation, it is more than 50%. The other 50% is deforestation. It is very serious,” he said.

Alckmin revealed that President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva traveled on Monday to Egypt to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) and will make a speech on Wednesday, November 16, before the entire international community present, in addition to meeting with governors of the Amazon states and representatives of civil society.

He added that the Brazilian government recently reached an agreement with the governments of Indonesia and Congo, which also have large areas of tropical forests, for the “valorization of biodiversity and fair remuneration for environmental services”.

For his part, Aloizio Mercadante, one of the coordinators of the transition between the two Brazilian governments, referred to the negotiations for the release of the Amazon Fund resources, which had been canceled in 2019 by its main donors, Norway and Germany, due to the Brazilian government’s lack of commitment.

“The Amazon Fund has about R$3 billion (US$563 million) today that are prevented from being released by the lack of commitment of the Brazilian government in combating deforestation.

“We have already had conversations with the German and Norwegian governments, and they must authorize, the day after the inauguration, the release of the resources,” he assured.

Created in 2008, the fund receives donations from international institutions and governments to finance actions to prevent and combat deforestation in the world’s largest rainforest.

With information from Xinhua