Brazil, Indonesia and DRC in talks to form ‘Opec
of rainforests’
Spurred by Lula’s election, the three countries, home
to half of all tropical forests, will pledge stronger conservation efforts
Brazil’s president-elect, Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva,
has promised to fight to halt deforestation in the Amazon.
Patrick
Greenfield
@pgreenfielduk
Sat 5 Nov
2022 08.00 GMT
The big
three tropical rainforest nations – Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo – are in talks to form a strategic alliance to coordinate
on their conservation, nicknamed an “Opec for rainforests”, the Guardian
understands.
The
election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, has been followed by a
flurry of activity to avoid the destruction of the Amazon, which scientists
have warned is dangerously close to tipping point after years of deforestation
under its far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro.
During his
first speech as president-elect, Lula pledged to fight for zero deforestation
in the Amazon, while Colombia has proposed creating an Amazon bloc at Cop27,
and Norway’s environment minister is moving to reinstate a billion-dollar fund
to protect the rainforest after it was halted under Bolsonaro.
Brazil,
Indonesia and DRC are home to 52% of the world’s remaining primary tropical
forests, which are crucial to avoiding climate catastrophe, and the
conservation talks are fulfilling a campaign promise by Lula.
The
alliance could see the rainforest countries make joint proposals on carbon
markets and finance, a longtime sticking point at UN climate and biodiversity
talks, as part of an effort to encourage developed countries to fund their
conservation, which is key to limiting global heating to 1.5C (2.7F) above
pre-industrial levels.
The three
countries – home to the Amazon, Congo basin and Borneo and Sumatra forests,
which are threatened by commercial logging, mining and illegal exploitation –
signed an agreement at Cop26 in Glasgow to halt and reverse deforestation by
2030.
Oscar Soria,
campaign director of the activism site Avaaz, said the alliance could be an
“Opec for rainforests”, akin to the oil producers’ cartel, which coordinates on
the fossil fuel’s production levels and price. Before being elected, Lula said
any alliance could be expanded to other rainforest countries, such as Peru and
Cambodia.
“This deal
could be a promising step forward, as long as Indigenous peoples and local
communities are fully consulted in the process and their rights and leadership
respected,” Soria said.
“These
three ecosystems are critical for the ecological stability of the world, and
the answer for these forests to thrive lies with the people that live in them.”
Carlos
Nobre, a Brazilian Earth system scientist and co-chair of the Science Panel for
the Amazon (SPA), said Lula’s election was a moment of opportunity for
rainforest conservation.
“The president-elect
is already working with DRC and Indonesia to protect all tropical forests on
the planet. He also reiterated the commitment of his government to get to zero
deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon during his presidency,” he said,
explaining that SPA would launch a proposal for an “arc of restoration”
covering more than 1m hectares (about 4,000 sq miles), mainly in the southern
Amazon near the Andes.
“Implementing
such a project will protect the Amazon rainforest from reaching the tipping
point and also will remove more than 1bn tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere for
several decades – a mandatory goal to combat the climate emergency,” he said.
Joseph
Itongwa Mukumo, an Indigenous Walikale from DRC’s North Kivu province, said any
alliance must recognise the role Indigenous communities play in protecting
forests.
He said:
“The IPCC [UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] scientists tasked with
advising Cop negotiators made clear in a recent report the urgent need to
recognise the rights of Indigenous peoples and support adaptation of
ecosystems, calling us ‘fundamental to reducing the risks of climate change and
for effective adaptation (with a very high level of confidence)’.
“Proposals
to conserve tropical forests that fail to protect the rights of Indigenous
peoples and local communities in the forests of Africa, Latin America and
Indonesia, cannot succeed.”
At Cop26 in
Glasgow last year, three big initiatives to protect the world’s forests were
launched: a commitment by more than 140 world leaders to halt and reverse
deforestation, the creation of a working group of producers and consumers of
commodities linked to deforestation, and a commitment by major commodity
producers of soya, palm oil, cocoa and cattle to align their business practices
with the 1.5C target.
However,
despite the agreement, data from Global Forest Watch shows that Brazil, DRC and
Indonesia were among the top five countries for primary forest loss in 2021,
with 11.1m hectares of tree cover lost in the tropics overall last year.
Find more
age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe
Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário