Brazil foreign minister 'surprised' by Amazon deforestation spike
Carlos Franca said the new data showing a 22% increase in deforestation was not what he had expected, even though the amount lost each year has risen under President Jair Bolsonaro.
Wednesday 24 November 2021 09:58, UK
Brazil's foreign minister has said he is "surprised" that deforestation in the Amazon has increased, following last week's news it had jumped 22%.
The destruction of the rainforest has soared under President Jair Bolsonaro, who has encouraged agriculture and mining and emboldened loggers.
Brazil's foreign minister, Carlos Franca, said in a briefing yesterday that the latest data, which covers August 2020 to July 2021, was not what they'd expected.
"Given the recent - and for us - surprising announcement of an increase in deforestation in the Amazon, I make it a priority to right from the start make clear our total dedication to fulfilling the announced commitments [achieved at COP26]," he said.
During the COP26 climate talks, Brazil signed a pledge to end forest destruction by 2030, and has committed to achieving this even sooner, by 2028. Its lead negotiator told Sky News that deforestation had dropped in August and September compared with the same period last year.
Brazil also boosted its plans to cut emissions by 2030, hinting at a change of tone under Mr Bolsonaro, who once threatened to withdraw Brazil from the Paris Agreement.
Speaking yesterday at the post-COP26 briefing, environment minister Joaquim Leite said Brazil wanted to be a constructive force in tackling climate change.
"I want to make it clear that Brazil will play its role now, especially after all the ambitious commitments and remembering those commitments are the most ambitious ones out of the developing countries in the G20," Mr Leite said.
He added: "Brazil showed itself constructive, as we said before the trip. Constructive in collaborating with this global challenge, which is to achieve climate neutrality by the middle of this century."
However, the G20 nation did not sign the $1.7billion pledge to support indigenous people and local communities (IPLC) in recognition of their crucial guardianship of land, also announced at COP26.
Ana Toni, director of Institute of Climate and Society, suggested the apparent climate push was "absolutely an election game that Bolsonaro is starting to play" in the last year of his term.
She said the private sector, particularly agricultural businesses, which are normally some of his big supporters, had complained they had been penalised by his environmental stance.
"You see many countries are talking about very restricted policies on traceability, other companies talking about boycotting Brazilian companies that are exporting cattle [from the Amazon]," she said.
"But let us always look back at the data and the facts on the ground," she said.
"What was Bolsonaro's reaction to this 13,235 square km (5,110 square miles) of deforestation, the biggest in 15 years?
"Blaming science, blaming fake news," she said.
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On Friday, the president questioned the extent of the deforested land, a day after the government itself had reported record numbers.
"If there were every year (that much) deforested as the press says, the whole Amazon would already be a desert," Bolsonaro said in his traditional weekly live stream on social media.
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