The campaign of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) articulates the creation of a group formed by Brazil, Indonesia and Congo —the BIC— to act in the next Conference of the Parties on Climate (COP27), in Egypt, in case of election of the PT, with the objective of pressuring rich countries for funding to protect forests and for defining details about the global carbon market.
Brazil, Indonesia and Congo have the three largest areas of tropical forest in the world and, as in the Brazilian territory, the green areas of the other countries are under threat of deforestation, with a risk to biodiversity.
“BIC’s proposal is to set up a strategic alliance to address the issue of funding at the COP in Egypt,” PT government program coordinator Aloizio Mercadante told Reuters.
The first contacts with the governments of Congo and Indonesia have already been made and a meeting with an advisor to the President of Congo should be scheduled for the next few weeks.
Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, Congo’s top negotiator on climate change, told Reuters that the proposal, while not new, makes perfect sense to improve the negotiating position of the BIC countries.
“Uniting voices would bring more weight to Western nations willing to provide resources for the protection of forests,” he said in an interview from his country.
In 2012, the three countries began preliminary talks to bring the three bases together and gain more weight in international negotiations aimed at giving real value to forest resources.
“Unfortunately, the initiative did not gain much traction, mainly due to Indonesia, which did not fully join the venture for internal political reasons,” he said.
Mpanu-Mpanu stated that deforestation has different dynamics in the three countries. In Brazil and Indonesia, it is mainly driven by aggressive agro-industrial policies, while in Congo it is mainly driven by poverty, with slash-and-burn agricultural practices and energy needs.
The Indonesian embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
Convergences
As part of Lula’s campaign, the party has already set up a working group to prepare the theme for the conference, which takes place in November. If all goes well for the party, and Lula is elected in October, the PT could go to Sharm El-Sheikh, where the UN meeting will take place, as part of a new government, even if Jair Bolsonaro is still in office.
“We are already preparing for the COP in Egypt. We are going to work on this financial architecture of the carbon market in this articulation with the BIC,” said Mercadante.
The intention is, from the three countries, to also include others that have areas of tropical forest in Africa, Asia and South America – in this case, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in addition to France, which has the French Guiana.
The logic is to unite stakeholders to pressure the richest to contribute to the maintenance of the forest. PT’s plan foresees a series of measures to reduce deforestation and, at the same time, encourage a transition to a greener economy, including sustainable actions in the Amazon, which encourage the creation of jobs that guarantee the maintenance of the standing forest.
But the PT wants help with external funding and Lula has publicly repeated this. This Wednesday (31), when he campaigned in Manaus, the PT said that he will defend the strengthening of the UN to deal with the climate emergency. “It has to be a stronger global governance, especially on the climate issue, because otherwise we will keep making speeches and not fulfilling it”, said the candidate.
At the PT campaign summit, Mercadante has argued that it is necessary to accelerate the international implementation of the carbon credit market, approved at COP26, in Glasgow, last year, but which has not yet been fully defined in the details of how the calculation measures will be . The expectation is that an agreement will be reached this year.
The measure was supported by economist Jeffrey Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, who was at the Perseu Abramo Foundation, linked to the PT, about two weeks ago.
“Protecting the Amazon and tropical forests requires global funding,” said Sachs.
Former Minister of the Environment Izabella Teixeira —today co-chair of the resources panel of the UN environment program— also defends the idea of Brazilian articulation. A contributor to the PT’s environmental program, the former minister told Reuters that she defended the importance of an alliance with forest-owning countries for climate security actions.
“I think alliances are important for political dialogue and for understanding convergences,” he said.
