The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela on Tuesday launched a call at the COP27 climate summit for a wide-ranging alliance to protect the Amazon, the planet’s biggest tropical forest.
“We are determined to revitalize the Amazon rainforest ... to offer humanity a significant victory in the battle against climate change,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said at the UN summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
“If we, in the South Americas, carry a responsibility, it is to stop the destruction of the Amazon and put in place a coordinated process of recovery,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said alongside Petro and Surinamese President Chan Santokhi.
Key to any such revival plan would be Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is to become president on Jan. 1 and is expected to attend COP27 next week.
The participation of Brazil in such a planned alliance would be “absolutely strategic,” Petro said.
Lula faces an immense challenge in putting a brake on Amazon deforestation.
Petro, architect of the proposed new alliance, has called for the US to collaborate, saying that it is “the country that pollutes the most” in the region, while South America is “the sponge that absorbs the most carbon dioxide on the continent.”
He advocated “the opening of a fund” fed by “the contribution of private companies and world nations.”
Petro had announced the previous day that his country intends to set aside US$200 million per year over the next two decades to protect the Amazon.
He urged solidarity from international organizations, at a time when the COP has put the issue of compensation for climate change effects on its agenda.
“One of the subjects which could bring consensus between us, Africa and part of Asia is [a mechanism for] forgiveness of [national] debt as a means of financing action” against climate change, Petro said.
The IMF would have “a role to play” in working with developing countries on this issue, he added.
However, there was a challenge to ensure the ideas are implemented.
“The political message [is] very important,” but the question “is to know how these intentions will materialize,” said Harol Rincon Ipuchima, a representative of indigenous people in Colombia.
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
More than 8,000 people took part in a rally in Taipei yesterday to express support for more defense spending, after the opposition slashed the Cabinet’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.6 billion) special defense budget and capped it at NT$780 billion. The demonstrators urged the Cabinet to propose another bill. Taiwan Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the main problem of the passed budget plan is the removal of funding for critical items, not just that the total amount is smaller. Critical budget items included purchasing or developing uncrewed vehicles, Strong Bow (強弓) missile systems, additional ammunition, artificial intelligence-powered combat systems and Taiwan-US
RSS