Speaking at COP27 on 15 November, President-Elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told a delighted audience that 'Brazil is back. In his speech, Lula committed to working towards zero deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, reversing the environmental damage that was allowed under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula said that Brazil did not need to clear another hectare of rainforest to be a major agricultural producer and that his government would crack down on logging and illegal gold mining, whilst restoring vital rainforest ecosystems.
He stated that no country is safe from climate change, and stressed that he wanted to build partnerships for sustainable development with other Amazonian countries, including Venezuela, Guyana, Colombia and Peru.
He also issued a reminder that at COP15, rich countries committed to raise a fund of $100 billion to help poorer nations tackle the issues of climate change and asked them to deliber on their promise.
He said, “There is no planetary security without a protected Amazon. We will do whatever it takes to have zero deforestation and degradation of our biomes....We will prioritise the fight against deforestation of all of our biomes and reverse damage done in recent years by the previous government.”