OP27 in Egypt – The risks of Brazilian environmental geopolitics on the international agenda

Amyra El Khalili special for Pravda.RU

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has called for financial cooperation and, in return, promised Brazil’s “climate neutralization” at climate conferences. However, since he took power in January 2019, governmental and environmental organizations have denounced Bolsonaro’s denialism, his refusal to demarcate indigenous lands with his promises to open them up for exploitation by loggers and miners, among other human rights violations and others environmental crimes, in addition to the dismantling of inspection structures, such as the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), the legalization of land grabbing, the indiscriminate possession of public lands, among other abuses.

In 2021, during “The Leaders’ Summit” on combating climate change, convened by Joe Biden, President of the United States, a group of 36 artists from Brazil and the United States published a letter asking Joe Biden to reject any climate agreement with the United States and Bolsonaro government. “We urge your government to heed our call – not to sign any agreement with Brazil at this time,” reads the open letter from celebrities such as actor Leonardo DiCaprio, pop star Katy Perry and musicians Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.

Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory and full member of the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change in an exclusive interview for Pravda. Ru, clarifies what is at stake in the environmental geopolitics scenario on the eve of presidential elections that coincide with the next United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference that will take place in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 6th to 18th, 2022.

Here’s the interview:

We would like to know more about you, your career and objectively what are the guidelines of your projects.

I have been a social and political activist in Brazil for many years. I started my work in the student movement. Within the environmental area, I started working at Greenpeace, where I stayed for over 13 years, taking care of the climate and Amazon agenda. I was coordinator of the Amazon campaign and public policies. In addition, I am a full member of the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change. I was part of the coordination of the Climate Observatory (OC) for a few years and, in 2020, I took over the executive secretary. The main guideline of the OC is to be a network of organizations working on the socio-environmental and climate agenda in Brazil. Our main objective today is to make the country become, by 2045, a positive example on the world’s climate agenda, being the first major economy in negative carbon. We have a project for that, and this is one of the points that unites this work network, which has 78 civil society organizations.

What is the current situation of protecting the environment and forests in Brazil?

The worst possible: we have the worst government for the environmental area in Brazil. All numbers on the socio-environmental agenda have gone downhill in the last four years. Deforestation in the Amazon grew by 73%; the Cerrado, 17%. Invasions of indigenous areas more than doubled in the Bolsonaro period. The current government promotes the scrapping of the Brazilian state’s ability to fight crime. Brazil has increased greenhouse gas emissions and reduced its commitments under the Paris Agreement. The country has a person who declares himself an enemy of the environment occupying the chair of the Presidency of the Republic. The difference we have today with the Bolsonaro government is that environmental crime has taken over the Executive Power in Brazil and governs the country. It’s the worst-case scenario. This can be seen in numbers and behaviours. Besides producing tragedy, it is a government that denies climate change and denies the bad numbers it produces. In short, there is a crisis of figures, results and behaviours.

The Bolsonaro government shields itself in the defence of sovereignty to criticize countries that speak out about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. How can other nations contribute to the defence of this heritage without Brazil feeling threatened?

The Brazilian government uses the argument of sovereignty to try to justify atrocities it carries out on the environmental agenda. However, by generating the environmental catastrophe, it is the government itself that puts the country’s sovereignty at risk. Sovereignty is not claimed, it is exercised. In the case of the Amazon, the exercise of sovereignty means having governance over the region, but the government turned the region over to environmental crime. In Bolsonaro’s mouth, sovereignty is nothing more than an empty word. We have a lot of international help through pressure from politicians and decision-makers. An example of this is when investors send letters and alerts to Brazilian politicians, so that they do not pass laws on environmental setbacks. We have the support of European Union parliamentarians and US senators. In addition, there is also support from international cooperation with populations that are the target of attack by the Bolsonaro government, mainly indigenous populations, currently threatened in Brazil for protecting the environment and the forest. International cooperation has always been important throughout history and it is even more so at a time like the one we are experiencing.

Does the country have any plans to reverse the current situation?

The country has projects to reverse all the damage done by Bolsonaro. It starts with him not being re-elected, which is the basic condition for any reversal of the current situation. We at the OC wrote a document, Brazil 2045, for Brazil’s environmental recovery agenda. It is divided into two parts. The first has 72 proposals to be implemented in the first 100 days of government, in order to undo Bolsonaro’s legacy of destruction. We also have 74 proposals for the first two years of the next government, so that Brazil is brought back to the correct and positive side of the climate agenda. This document is public and was delivered to the other presidential candidates (https://www.oc.eco.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2045-EN%E2%80%94VF.pdf).

Brazil is the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet. Are the targets in the Paris Agreement sufficient to reduce Brazilian emissions? And is the country moving towards fulfilling them?

Brazil is the 5th largest issuer in the world and the 4th largest historical issuer of emissions. We have a duty and a sector to be attacked mainly, that is, we need to stop deforestation. Even if there was no climate problem on the planet. Deforestation brings harm to the country, to the local climate balance and social prejudice since it causes poverty and misery and does not contribute to development. With the end of deforestation, we will be able to cut almost half of national emissions. The OC has a vision of Brazil’s potential for reducing greenhouse gases, which could lead to an 81% cut in the 2005 baseline emissions. Today, the government has a target of slightly more than half of that OC proposal. We believe that Brazil can advance further, especially in the area of energy, agriculture and deforestation. The last two make up the majority of Brazilian GHG emissions.

Brazil is in the process of electing a new government and renewing legislative posts. How can the election result impact the protection of the environment and forests?

Elections are essential if we want any change. If Bolsonaro is re-elected, Brazil will move to further increase deforestation, its emissions and move away from the goals of the Paris Agreement and any positive climate agenda. A new mandate for the Bolsonaro government could mean the Amazon entering its collapse point, which would put the Paris Agreement’s own 1.5°C targets at risk. Therefore, the elections are extremely important in deciding whether Brazil will once again be a positive player on the environmental and climate agenda, or whether it will continue to pursue climate destruction, a scenario established since Bolsonaro took office. Elections for Parliament are also extremely important, since the Legislative Power has a relevant share in the decisions to be taken. That said, the Brazilian election is about fixing the country’s internal problems, but it is also central to the global climate agenda.

Translation: Nicole Jungo Al-Najjar