Bolsonaro abandons enhanced Amazon commitment same day he makes it
by Sue Branford on 27 April 2021
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro offered up Amazon conservation promises during the April 22 virtual Climate Leaders Summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden and attended by heads of state from more than forty nations.
That same day, Bolsonaro approved Brazil’s 2021 budget that includes a R$240 million ($44 million) annual reduction for the Ministry of the Environment. Conservationists say that the cuts will be utterly devastating for the nation’s deforestation monitoring program.
The reductions will also impact the monitoring of pollution levels, pesticide contamination (Brazil under Bolsonaro is the biggest user of pesticides in the world), illegal mining, and wildlife trafficking. ICMbio, which oversees 334 of Brazil’s protected areas, also saw cuts.
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The second day of President Biden s Climate Leaders Summit secured a major coup late last week, after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced an ambitious plan to end fracking in the state by 2024 and explore ways to phase out oil extraction state-wide by 2045.
The proposed moves would ban new fracking permits from 2024 and impose more rigorous scrutiny on current permit applications to ensure projects do not breach existing reglations. Regulatory bodies, including the California Air Resources Board (CARB), have also been directed to analyse pathways to completely phase out the state s oil production by no later than 2045.
As climate summit unfolds, no Biden-Bolsonaro Amazon deal forthcoming
The United States and Brazil have been conducting closed door negotiations to broker an Amazon rainforest protection agreement with the U.S. and other nations tentatively to provide significant funding, and Brazil possibly agreeing to pragmatic measures to end deforestation.
However, as the global Climate Leaders Summit progressed today, it became apparent that those talks are likely stalemated, with no deal announced, nor likely anytime soon.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has made it clear that Amazon conservation is dependent on a big financial investment by the United States. However, Amazon deforestation continued soaring through March, even as critics offered substantial proof Brazil is insincere in its environmental commitments.
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Posted on April 23, 2021.
One hundred European policy makers, CEOs, business associations, labor unions and think tanks have signed an appeal to American authorities asking them to engage ambitiously in the fight against the climate crisis ahead of the Climate Leaders Summit, scheduled for April 22 and 23 by President Joe Biden.
We congratulate the measures undertaken against climate change by the new Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration and salute America’s return to the Paris Agreement. From now on, both sides of the Atlantic will share the objective of zero carbon emissions by 2050, 30 years from now.
This alliance between the United States and Europe is essential to combating climate change and ensuring a fair and lasting transition to carbon neutrality. Together, we account for about 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions and 40% of the world’s gross domestic product. We also constitute a market of 800 million people, with the United States being one of Europe’s major