Photo: More Goiás
present of the future president at the climate conference U.N. is seen as a hope for the resumption of the lost environmental protagonists Bolsonaro. “The world is waiting for Brazil,” says the former environment minister. On leaving the Brazilian Presidency Jair Bolsonaro at the meeting of heads of state planned for the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt this Sunday (June 11th) to November 18th. With confirmed names like Joe BidenLeaders of the United States, one of the most anticipated presences is that of the next Brazilian President: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Still without power to decide on the negotiating direction of the Brazilian delegation, the winner of the elections opposes it Bolsonaro must attend the meeting organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in the second week of negotiations.
“The presence of lula is a very positive sign, a sign of a country turning to the world after years as a pariah,” comments Izabella Teixeira, former Minister of Surroundings who will be one of the advisers to the Presidency at the climate change conference Egypt.
In the DW interview Teixeira noted that there is a high demand from key delegations to meet with the interim government. The expectation is that discussions will go beyond international cooperation for conservation Amazon.
“Brazil will arrive renewed, guided by its democracy, by its great technical capacity in science, by its youth and by its indigenous peoples. The world is waiting for Brazil,” explains Teixeira.
High emissions and deforestation
Under the current Minister for SurroundingsJoaquim Leite, the official delegation, sees COP27 as a moment to reaffirm all countries’ commitments to mitigating climate change, especially the biggest emitters, Itamaraty told DW via email.
To ChinaUnited States, IndiaIndonesia & RussiaBrazil is the sixth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, points to a platform dedicated to the issue, maintained by the World Resources Institute (WRI), whose information will be collected until 2019.
Since then, the numbers have only gotten worse, as has been pointed out Stella Herschman, a climate observatory expert who follows the negotiations in Egypt. “The year 2021 was the fourth consecutive year with an increase in national emissions, mainly driven by the increase in deforestation, year on year,” he says.
Parallel to official bodies, the burden of CO2 released into the atmosphere annually from land is calculated by System for estimating greenhouse gas emissions (Seeg), a project bringing together 77 organizations led by the Climate Observatory. The latest survey showed that emissions in 2021 reached 2.42 billion gross tonnes of CO2 (tCO2e), the highest level in almost two decades.
The overall reduction in emissions from CO2 It holds the key for the world to reach the goal set out in the Paris Agreement: to limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century compared to preindustrial levels.
“The official Brazil coming to negotiations with representatives of the current Brazilian government it has a climate identity that ranges from flat earth to denial, but concretely leading to high emissions and deforestation,” comments Teixeira.
Omission and Isolation
As soon as he arrived presidencyin 2019, Bolsonaro warned that the Brazil not host the COP25 as planned three years earlier. The negative message was picked up and the country’s image on the international stage deteriorated with each edition of the conference.
“The data only showed the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. COP26in Glasgowthe government has hidden the deforestation data from Prodes,” stresses Herschmann, noting that the information is released annually in midNovember by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).
Behind the scenes it is believed that the government Bolsonaro emphasize the topic of energy at meetings and events in the official pavilion. “The news from the energy sector is also bad. Seeg has shown that emissions from this activity are the highest since the 1970s,” emphasizes Hershmann.
At their farewell climate conference, the current government’s international isolation must remain in place, as it has been at previous COPs. “It was four years not only of giving up, but of the declared fight against the environmental and climate agenda, against the indigenous peoples, the Amazon region, against the federal authorities who take care of the environment,” analyzes public relations specialist Carlos Rittl Politik Norway’s Rainforest Foundation.
“As a country, we want to be part of the solution again and not part of the problem, as we have been for the past four years. Civil society has prepared a lot for this transition, we have very concrete proposals to discuss, all based on science,” says Ana. Toni, Executive Director of the Instituto Clima e Sociedade.
With a view to the Brazil of the future
Without dialogue with the Bolsonaro government, civil society grew in number, international dialogue intensified, and gained more and more space at COPs. Since 2019, organizations have been running the Brazil Climate Action Hub, created to provide visibility to climate action in the country.
“Unfortunately, we still arrive in Egypt divided, with one pavilion for the federal government, another for civil society and a third for the governors of the Amazon. The hope is that we can get to the next COP together. Hope and determination to be a fundamental player in the fight against climate change,” says Ana Toni.
At COP27, Rittl believes that Lula must show that he is taking up the policy to reduce deforestation in the Amazon that was abandoned under Bolsonaro and that he is doing more to protect the climate.
“The Amazon Fund was negotiated during Lula’s tenure, as were the National Climate Change Policy goals. However, the resumption of this policy must be adapted to the times of 2023, with the necessary urgency with which we must deal with these issues,” adds Rittl.
Last week, the Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social Movements for Environment and Development (FBOMS) sent a letter to Lula asking that Brazil be put back at the center of global climate negotiations and that the incoming president signal Brazil’s willingness to to host the climate summit in 2025.
For Izabella Teixeira, it’s time for Brazil to decide what role and position it wants to play in the world. “It’s a country full of contradictions, with a lot of work ahead of us, but it has alternatives and many peculiarities, like the Amazon. We don’t need to copy anyone’s model, we need to know what we’re going to do with the wealth we have in the country,” he said.
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