We know that targets announced by Brazil at COP26 will not be met, says Sebastião Salgado

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“Brazil has not lost its credibility, it was the federal government who lost,” said photographer Sebastião Salgado this Monday (8), on a visit to the Brazil Climate Hub, a stand organized by Brazilian NGOs at COP26.

“The goals announced here [pelo Brasil], we know here that they will not be fulfilled,” he says to an audience of Brazilians who go beyond the space and crowd the corridor and booths neighboring the conference, bringing together parliamentarians, former ministers of the environment, environmentalists and activists.

“The Amazon still exists safely, with 82% of the territory preserved, 24% of national parks and 23% of indigenous lands.” By shooting up the numbers, the photographer appeals to the Judiciary to help guarantee the protected lands. “We have to ally with the judges.”

“It will take three years for us to regain control of deforestation and protected lands, which were encouraged to be invaded by this government”, he assesses.

However, he believes that there was a positive reaction to the destruction of the Amazon, with the increase in indigenous organization and the engagement of Brazilians. “I have been working for many years with photography and with the Amazon. And the interest of Brazilians in the Amazon was practically zero. Today there is an Amazon awakening,” he says.

“If we do all the math, we’ll win, in the next Brazilian government, because I’m absolutely sure it won’t be the one that’s here, we’ll have an incredible capacity for recovery and the name of the Brazilian nation will return to what it used to be” , he claims.

The condition for this would be, according to the photographer, to end the predatory exploration of the biome. “If we put an end to the predatory economic proposal, we will achieve international financial flows to Brazil as we have never been able to,” he says.

Asked about the green makeup used in advertisements that proliferate at COP26, both by governments and by companies, he points out that advertisements about forest restoration made by companies require monitoring of the results.

“Tree seedlings are very cheap, but they need to be taken care of like a child, otherwise they die; they have to be monitored. Companies should also buy land [para restaurar]”.

The Brazil Climate Hub presents three photographs provided by Salgado and that make up the Amazon exhibition, bringing together seven years of work by the photographer. The work is on display at the Science Museum in London and will go to Sesc, in São Paulo, and the Museum of Tomorrow, in Rio de Janeiro.

The journalist traveled at the invitation of Instituto Clima e Sociedade.

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