MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil signs biodiversity deal with Indonesia and Congo

Photo: Bobulix / Flickr

Brazil's Foreign Ministry announced that the South American country had reached a biodiversity agreement with Indonesia and Congo to preserve their respective tropical rainforests, which are the largest in the world.

The deal was clinched in Bali, Indonesia, by representatives of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment, the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The alliance had been created Nov. 7 in Egypt, during the COP27 conference on climate change. The initiative is the result of negotiations started during the COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, which were continued during the G20 meeting of environment ministers, in August, in Bali, and deepened during the pre-COP, in Kinshasa, last October.

The coalition's goal is to value the countries' biodiversity and promote fair remuneration for the ecosystem services provided by the three nations - especially through native forest carbon credits. The alliance signals to the international community that the issue of conservation and sustainable use of this environmental asset must be spearheaded by those who own the world's largest forests.

In August, during a bilateral meeting between ministers Joaquim Leite and Indonesia's Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Brazil's Environment Ministry presented its policies developed over the last four years, such as the creation of the global carbon market, at COP26, the decree that established the Brazilian Carbon Credit Market, the Zero Methane Program and the Forest+ Program of Payment for Environmental Services.

At that time, the Indonesian representative recognized Brazil's leadership and mentioned that such good practices could be replicated in his country and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pandjaitan also reaffirmed the desire to make the alliance between the three largest holders of tropical forests official.

The announcement was made by the Secretary of Climate and International Relations of the Ministry of Environment, Marcus Henrique Paranaguá, and by the vice-ministers of Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “We are very happy to announce this agreement on which we have been working hard since last year. The ministers of the three countries recognize the importance of caring for the world's largest rainforests,” Paranaguá said.

Meanwhile, Brazil's delegation at Sharm El-Sheikh Tuesday launched the Brazil + Sustainable Agenda, a document listing the nearly 800 actions undertaken in the last four years that would be aligned with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN), a global call to end poverty and protect the environment.

According to the government, the Brazil + Sustainable Agenda involved the participation of all ministries. The 80-page document is also accessible to the public.

The conference, which is being held this year in Egypt, has been held annually since 1995 and was created from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed upon three years ago. The event brings together all the signatory countries of the convention.

For two weeks, representatives of the signatories of the convention evaluate the climate changes on the planet and discuss mechanisms to deal with issues such as clean energy generation, carbon market, and sustainable agriculture.

“Since 2019, we have worked together with the private sector to find profitable climate and environmental solutions for businesses, people, and nature. We have reversed the logic of previous governments that only acted to fine, reduce and blame. This government makes policies to encourage, innovate, and undertake, thus creating legal frameworks for a robust green economy with job and income generation for all Brazilians,” Minister Leite said Tuesday.

He also acknowledged that his country has challenges ahead, such as the illegal deforestation in the Amazon, the 100 million Brazilians without access to sewage networks, and the more than 2.6 thousand open-air dumps.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)