(Brasilia) The environmental situation in Brazil is “much worse than we imagined”, says Marina Silva, the new Minister of the Environment, for whom the preservation of the Amazon can only be done with the cooperation of the countries strangers.
Left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has appointed this emblematic figure of ecology to the government, signifying the priority that Brasilia would give to the planet, after four years of Jair Bolsonaro’s mandate marked by record deforestation in the Amazon in particular and a flood of international criticism.
“The reality is much worse than we imagined”, assures in an interview Monday evening the black minister born in the heart of the Amazon 64 years ago. “We are going to have to make a big effort”, because this ministry “has been greatly dismantled”, she says, three weeks after taking office.
Lula “has placed the environment at the very top of the government’s priorities”, assures the minister, “in accordance with what is happening elsewhere in the world”.
Brazil’s goal of zero deforestation by 2030 shows that commitment, says Ms.me Silva. “The path will not be easy […]but we will try to make up for lost time”.
Investments
Within Lula’s government, 17 ministries will be involved in environmental policies.
With regard to the fight against deforestation, the objectives must not only be stated in figures, said the minister, but “we must convince people that it is not a good thing to destroy the forest”.
“We are going to invest in biotechnologies, tourism, low-carbon agriculture and other sources of income”, says Marina Silva, “our goal is to resume preventive actions and the fight against deforestation”.
But the minister does not promise a “green” Brazil in four years of leftist management. “We will see what is achievable in this short space of time. Only populist governments can guarantee that they will solve problems of this magnitude in four years”.
“We hope to arrive at COP30 in 2025 as a country that fulfills its duties,” she adds, about the UN climate conference that Brazil is offering to host in Belem, in the north of the country. country, at the gates of the Amazon.
But Brasilia will not be able to work miracles without international aid, warned the one who was already Minister of the Environment for Lula’s previous mandates (2003-2010), but had slammed the door in 2008 to protest against the lack of means.
The Minister welcomed the reactivation and increase of the Amazon Fund, whose main contributors are Norway and Germany. It had been frozen due to controversies with Jair Bolsonaro over fires in the world’s largest rainforest.
“We are in discussions with the United Kingdom, France, Spain and many other countries that can contribute to the Amazon Fund. We don’t want it to be just Germany and Norway”.
“Live with dignity”
In addition to governments, discussions are also well advanced with companies and philanthropic organizations, assures Marina Silva. But it will take more effort from the international community.
“This collaboration with developed countries must also result in the opening of markets to our sustainable products”, said the minister, so that “what is produced legally can be a source of income for the 25 million inhabitants of the Amazon”.
“We must ensure that these populations live in dignity,” she explains, adding that the commitment to combat the commercialization of illegally produced gold and timber must be multilateral.
Likewise, “if developed countries do not also reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the Amazon will be destroyed”.