In addition, they are ready to “build a fruitful and effective relationship” with the new government,” said a letter the governors delivered to President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at Egypt’s climate conference on Wednesday. The urgency of the climate crisis requires dialogue with the international community.
The nine states of the Brazilian Amazon are together the size of Western Europe. The governors also emphasize the need for sustainable development. “The price of the current development model is environmental degradation and social exclusion,” the letter said. Many of the Amazon states have been shaped by agribusiness and their citizens have voted for Bolsonaro. He mainly sees economic potential in the Amazon region.
According to Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, Lula said he agreed with the contents of the letter. He also offered Brazil to the United Nations to host a world climate conference. “We will speak to the UN Secretary-General and ask that the COP be held in Brazil in Amazon in 2025,” Lula said at the event.
In his previous term (early 2003 to late 2010), the leftist Lula was not considered green, but he has now pledged to strengthen environmental and climate protection in the future. In Brazil, he was criticized for traveling to COP27 on a businessman’s plane.
(SDA)