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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva on Tuesday presented his perspective on how Amazon Rainforests must be protected, a future that did not depend on donations from rich countries and big philanthropists, but instead included a major fund that paid countries to keep forests standing.
“I don’t want to say the word charity anymore,” Lula told reporters ahead of the U.N. climate summit, known as COP30, which opens this week in the Brazilian city of Belém, on the edge of the Amazon.
He said, “Somebody gives us $50 million. That’s nice, but it’s nothing.” “We need billions of dollars to deal with our problems, the problems of the people (living) there.”
In Belém, Lula is expected to launch an initiative called the Tropical Forest Forever Fund, which aims to support more than 70 developing countries committed to conservation. So far, Colombia, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Malaysia have joined.
GermanyThe United Arab Emirates, France, Norway and the United Kingdom are helping shape the mechanism and will likely be its first investors, which Lula hopes will help drum up interest from the private sector. Brazil’s president did not provide further details on how the plan would be implemented.
The official COP30 website describes the initiative as a “permanent trust fund” that will generate approximately $4 from the private sector for every $1 contributed. It was not immediately clear how this would happen. However, forests can generate money in a variety of ways besides extracting resources, such as tourism and carbon offsets, in which companies can pay to offset their pollution by planting trees and protecting forests.
If the initiative works, resources will be sent to countries that keep their tropical forests.
“Brazil has already invested $1 billion and this will provide revenues to investors,” Lula said. “This is a win-win fund. We hope many countries will join when we finish the TFFF presentation.”
Lula also defended his government’s recent decision to approve exploratory drilling by the state oil company petrobras Near the mouth of the Amazon River.
The Equatorial Margin deposits off the coast of Brazil, which extend from Brazil’s border with Suriname to a portion of the country’s northeastern region, are known to be rich in oil and gas.
The exploratory drilling block is located 175 kilometers (108 mi) off the northern Brazilian state of Amapá, which borders Suriname. The biodiverse area is home to little-studied mangroves and coral reefs. Activists and experts have said the project risks leaks that could be spread widely by the tides and endanger the sensitive environment. Petrobras has long argued that its drilling has never caused a spill.
“If I were a fake and lying leader, I would wait for the COP to end (to give approval),” Lula said. “But if I did that I would become a small man in comparison to its importance.”
Lula, who served two terms as Brazil’s president in the early 2000s before returning for a third term in 2023, has long established himself as both a steward of the environment and a pragmatist. Brazil is a major oil exporter, and the revenue brought in by Petrobras helps fund any government’s agenda. Additionally, Lula’s administration has worked to halt deforestation and take a leading role in climate negotiations by hosting the summit.
Lula said, “I don’t want to be an environmental leader. I never claimed to be one.” “I want to do the right things that the experts, my administration and my conscience say we should do. It would be inconsistent, an irresponsible action, if I said we would no longer use oil.”
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