UK to contribute to Brazil’s Amazon defence fund, PM Sunak says

World
By William

Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who has pledged to end deforestation in the Amazon, welcomes a $101 million pledge to the Amazon Fund.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the United Kingdom will contribute more than $101 million to Brazil’s Amazon Fund, an initiative that aims to halt deforestation in the vast South American rainforest.

Sunak made the pledge Friday after talks in London with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whom the British prime minister said has shown “great leadership on climate change”.

“There are so many interests we have in common,” Sunak told Lula at the meeting at 10 Downing Street, talking about higher trade and the fight to fight the climate crisis.

“I am pleased to announce that we will be investing in your Amazon Fund and I salute your leadership in this initiative,” he said.

Brazil’s president, who is in the UK to attend King Charles III’s coronation over the weekend, also welcomed the talks.

“We had a good conversation about our trade relations, environmental protection and world peace”, Lula wrote on Twitter.

The leftist leader, who narrowly defeated former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in the second round of elections in October, has vowed to fight for “zero deforestation” in the Amazon region, about two-thirds of which is in Brazil.

Deforestation increased under Bolsonaro, who promoted greater economic development in the Amazon and relaxed environmental protections.

In 2019, Bolsonaro dissolved the steering committee that selected sustainable projects for funding through the Amazon Fund, prompting Germany and Norway to freeze their donations.

The rainforest is critical to the global fight against climate change, and rights groups had denounced the policies of the Bolsonaro administration as leading to an increase in destruction, as well as increasing threats against indigenous communities in the region.

But at the end of January, just weeks after Lula took office, Germany announced that it would once again make $38 million available to the Amazon Fund.

The German government has also pledged $87 million in low-interest loans to farmers to restore degraded areas, as well as $34 million to Brazilian Amazon states to protect the rainforest.

“With the new government and the team of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and [Environment] Minister Marina Silva, we have a great opportunity to protect the forest and offer a new perspective to the people who live there,” said German Development Cooperation Minister Svenja Schulze at the time.

Last month, US President Joe Biden — who met Lula at the White House in February — announced that he would ask Congress to contribute $500 million over five years to the fund and related activities.

France and Spain have also expressed interest in contributing, Brazil has said.

On Friday, Lula thanked Sunak and said it was time to “normalize” relations between the UK and Brazil, adding that “much more can be done on trade”.

The Brazilian president also reiterated that countries with large forests need support – especially from developed countries – to protect them, while reaffirming Brazil’s commitment to zero deforestation by 2030.

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