Despite its critical role in protecting the Amazon rainforest, Brazil will not endorse a global anti-deforestation initiative being announced at the UN climate summit, saying that it was left out of the consultation process. A UN official disputed that claim.
Brazilian Minister of Natural Environment Izabella Teixeira said Brazil was “not invited to be engaged in the preparation process” of the declaration.
Instead, she said Brazil was given a copy of the text and asked to endorse it without being allowed to suggest any changes.
“Unfortunately, we were not consulted, but I think that it is impossible to think that you can have a global forest initiative without Brazil on board. It does not make sense,” Teixeira said in an interview on Monday.
Charles McNeill, a senior environmental policy adviser with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said “there were efforts to reach out to Brazilian government people, but there was not a response.”
“There was no desire to exclude Brazil,” McNeill said. “They are the most important country in this area. An effort that involves Brazil is much more powerful and impactful than one that does not.”
The forest declaration has not been publicly released, but it is expected to be endorsed by many countries, corporations and major environmental groups, as one of the centerpieces of yesterday’s UN climate summit.
Although it is not part of the formal negotiation process, the summit is intended to build momentum for a new climate treaty in December next year, with the UN hoping governments will announce major initiatives that would boost confidence heading into next year’s talks in Paris.
However, Brazil’s complaints showcase the pitfalls of building international consensus on any major environmental initiative.
Teixeira says her government had concerns that the text could clash with Brazil’s national laws, which allow for managed felling of the Amazon and other forests.
“It’s different to have legal deforestation vs illegal deforestation. Our national policy is we want to stop illegal deforestation,” she said.
McNeill, who said the UNDP facilitated the forest declaration process, said the effort to get countries to sign on to the initiative would continue until the Paris summit.
“Hopefully, Brazil will have a chance to get on board,” he said.
Teixeira emphasized that Brazil is committed to protecting the Amazon rainforest, which is considered one of the world’s most important natural defenses against global warming because of its capacity to absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide.
She said her country has set a goal of slowing the pace of deforestation to 3,900km2 annually by 2020. That would be down from about 5,843km2 in the August 2012 through July last year period, when Brazil made its last annual survey measuring the destruction of the forest by studying satellite images.
Brazil’s rate of deforestation has fallen 79 percent since 2004, according to government figures, but last year, the government reported that annual destruction of its Amazon rainforest jumped by 28 percent.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was