John Kerry says he expects Brazil’s ‘total turnaround’ and awaits meeting with Lula to define money for the Amazon

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US special envoy to COP27, John Kerry, told BBC News Brazil this Tuesday (15th) that he is “excited” to meet in the afternoon with the president-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is also in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, to attend the United Nations Summit on Climate Change.

Kerry said he awaits a conversation with Lula to define future US aid for conservation actions in the Amazon, but said he is “confident” that the future president will promote a “complete turnaround” in Brazil’s environmental policy.

During Jair Bolsonaro’s term, the Amazon Fund, which has about US$ 1 billion in resources donated by Norway and Germany, was paralyzed, given the distrust of these countries with Brazil’s current environmental policy. Other rich countries, such as the United States and the European Union, also put a brake on negotiations to cooperate with the preservation of the forest in the face of record deforestation in the last three years.

“I’m excited to meet him,” Kerry said. When asked by BBC News Brasil if the US is going to inject resources into the Amazon Fund, he replied: “Let’s analyze… Obviously I want to have the chance to talk (with Lula), but I’m confident that he will promote a complete turnaround in policies. .”

“We are excited to work with him and confident that we will do everything we can (to preserve the Amazon.”

During COP27, Kerry met with elected federal deputy Marina Silva, one of the most quoted names to assume the Ministry of the Environment. She said in an interview with BBC News Brazil that she asked the US and representatives from other rich countries such as Canada, Germany and Norway to contribute financially to the Amazon Fund.

“All the leaders I spoke to indicated that they are interested in increasing cooperation with Brazil. We are the largest country in Latin America. We have an important role in the field of geopolitics and the world is aware of this. economic, social and political and is very solidary in helping Brazil in these four years”, he said.

According to her, “all partners in Brazil are eager to cooperate again.”

“In the conversations I had with Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, in short, all partners have signaled and understood that Brazil is the country that can change the paradigm, because it has the best conditions to do so. And people want to see Brazil leading by example.”

Representatives from nearly 200 nations are meeting in Egypt to discuss new commitments to secure the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

At last year’s summit, COP26, Brazil signed an important agreement on forest protection, which sets a goal of zero deforestation in the world by 2030. The document provides for US$ 19.2 billion in public and private resources for actions related to conservation of forests, fire fighting, reforestation and protection of indigenous territories. President Jair Bolsonaro did not attend and negotiations advanced with the participation of diplomats from the Foreign Ministry.

But the indicators show Brazil going against the promises and commitments to control CO2 emissions. The deforestation rate in the Amazon recorded in 2021 was the highest in 15 years and the number of carbon dioxide emissions by Brazil last year was the highest in 16 years.

Bolsonaro again chose not to attend COP27. The government is being represented by the Minister of the Environment, Joaquim Leite.

But international attention is focused on Lula and his ministers, as demonstrated by the agenda of important bilateral meetings that Marina Silva and the president-elect will attend this week at COP27.

– This text was published in https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-63633669

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