Lula calls on UK to fund billionaire Amazon – 11/29/2022

Advisors to the President-elect, Luis Inacio Lula da SilvaThey are in talks with the United Kingdom, Switzerland and France for donations Amazon FinanceA Lula adviser said it aims to secure international resources to protect forests in the fight against climate change.

The British embassy said its government is examining an invitation to join Amazon’s fund, which already has about 3 billion rais.

Launched from 2003 to 2010 during Lula’s first government, the fund funded defense projects and counts Norway and Germany as its biggest donors.

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) froze funds without providing evidence, citing unspecified expenditure irregularities in supported projects run by NGOs.

Protecting the Amazon, which absorbs large amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gases, is part of Lula’s broader plan to reclaim Brazil’s leadership in the fight against climate change.

Izabella Teixeira, Lula’s former environment minister and the president’s current adviser on climate change, told Reuters she met with Norwegian and German officials on Monday to discuss restarting the fund.

Norway’s environment minister, Espen Barth Eide, told a United Nations climate summit in Egypt this month that he expected to restart funding once Lula took office “after January 1.”

Teixeira confirmed that the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland have expressed interest in the fund, which was first reported by Folha de S.Paulo.

The former minister said he had lunch with the British ambassador to Brazil and the head of the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to discuss new bilateral cooperation, including Amazon funding.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to visit Brazil in the first half of 2023 to discuss possible cooperation before his country makes a final decision on joining the fund, he said.

The British Embassy said Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP) and Pará Governor Helder Barbalho (MDB) had approached its climate and environment ministers at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt to discuss possible donations to the fund.

The Swiss and French embassies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Amazon deforestation has reached a 15-year high under Bolsonaro’s government, which has rolled back environmental protections and championed more agriculture and mining in the Amazon region.

Lula promised to use every tool at his disposal to eliminate deforestation, and pledged more money and personnel to enforce environmental laws.