The United States maintains its commitment to preserve the Amazon and will work with the new Brazilian government and other allied countries to that end, the special envoy for climate change, John Kerry, declared this Wednesday at COP27, after meeting the day before with President-elect Luiz Inácio. Lula da Silva.
“I was happy to meet last night (Tuesday) with President-elect Lula and I felt encouraged by the way he spoke, to face the problem once and for all, to preserve the Amazon”, Kerry declared in an act on biodiversity at the UN climate conference.
“We will work diligently to achieve that goal together with our allies, Norway, Germany and other countries that have been deeply committed to it for a long time,” he added.
Lula arrived at COP27 amidst great expectations, although there are still six weeks left before he takes office.
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“Brazil will once again be a reference in the world climate issue”the leftist leader said on his Twitter account upon landing in Sharm el Sheikh.
Lula also posted photos of his meetings with Kerry and the Chinese chief negotiator at COP27, Xhi Zhenhua, on his official account.
Norway and Germany announced, after Lula’s victory, that they were willing to resume their financial support to preserve the virgin Amazon rainforest in Brazil, after withdrawing it in 2019 shortly after Jair Bolsonaro came to power.
One of Lula’s special envoys to COP27 before his arrival, former minister Marina Silva, assured that additional partners are already being sought.
Norway is the largest contributor to that fund, and according to its environment ministry, $641 million is currently available.
A NEW HOPE
At a press conference in Washington, after Lula’s victory, Kerry stated that the leader of the Brazilian left is “committed” to the climate, something he demonstrated with the policies he carried out when he was president of the South American giant between 2003 and 2011.
“I trust that he will be able to intensify these policies with the necessary reforms to try to save the Amazon, where 25 million people live”, said the veteran politician, who was former President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State.
Kerry criticized that during Bolsonaro’s term, “unfortunately deforestation has increased dangerously in the Amazon, up to the levels we have today”.
The Brazilian president-elect aims to push for more ambitious climate goals and strengthen international cooperation to protect the Amazon, which has reached record levels of deforestation and fires under the Bolsonaro administration.
THE SITUATION OF THE AMAZON
In recent years, under Bolsonaro’s mandate in Brazil, the Amazon has reached record levels of deforestation and fires. According to official figures, between August 2020 and July 2021, this area reached its highest level of deforestation in 15 years. Added to this are satellite monitoring that shows that the trend for the current year is only on the way to surpassing that of the previous one.
On the other hand, a recent study of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) assured that in 2020 more than 76,000 firesthe highest figure since 2010. Thus, between August 2020 and July 2021, deforestation 13 thousand square kilometers -the equivalent of nine times the city of Sao Paulo-.
(with information from AFP, EFE and AP)
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Source-www.infobae.com