(São Paulo) – Brazilian President-elect Luis Inacio Lula da Silva should take concrete steps to back up environmental pledges as government delegates gather at COP27 climate summit in Egypt, says Human Rights Watch said today.
In its first public statement after winning the October 30, 2022 elections, known in Brazil as Lula, it will reduce deforestation of the Amazon rainforest to zero, defend the rights of indigenous peoples, We pledged to play a leading role in responding to the climate crisis. The incumbent Jair Bolsonaro government, whose term ends on December 31, will represent Brazil at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27). Laura will also participate.
“With COP27 beginning a week after the election, Lula must demonstrate a plan to maintain the rule of law in the Amazon and protect both the forest and its defenders as soon as she takes office. Rights Watch.” He should commit to rebuilding the capacity of federal agencies charged with protecting the environment and defending the rights of indigenous peoples.”
Lula inherited one of the highest Amazon deforestation rates on record when he took office in 2003. By 2010, the end of his second term in office, he had reduced deforestation rates by 67%.
Among the measures that have led to this outcome are the effective enforcement of environmental laws, the creation of protected areas, the delimitation of indigenous territories, and the large-scale landlords who have taken over public lands and lacked or violated legal title. There were restrictions on access to credit for large landowners. environmental law. However, local communities and organizations have expressed concern over the high environmental and social impacts of the dams and other projects his administration has pushed in the Amazon.
At COP26, the 2021 climate summit in Glasgow, Brazil, Brazil signed an initiative to reverse forest loss, pledging to end illegal deforestation by 2028. In reality, however, the policies of the Bolsonaro administration have led to an increase in illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon ecosystem. It creates an environment where those responsible are impunity while at the same time being essential to the fight against climate change.
Under Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Amazon increased by 73% in 2021 compared to 2018, the highest level in 15 years. According to official data, about 34,000 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest have been cut down between 2019 and 2021. Nearly 99% of his recorded deforestation in 2021 had irregularities indicative of illegality.
Fires, which are often used to clear land and prepare it for crops and pastures, have surged with deforestation. The number of hotspots, an indicator of fire activity in the Amazon from 2019 to October 2022, was 368,642. In 2022 he already has the highest number of fires from January to October since 2010.
Scientists warn that increasing deforestation and fires are pushing the Amazon to a “tipping point” from which the rainforest will never recover, underscoring the urgency to undo the damage. increase.
If this destruction continues, much of the rainforest could be depleted over the next few years, releasing billions of tons of stored carbon, disrupting weather patterns and devastating agriculture across South America. Large areas of the Amazon have already been deforested and degraded, reducing the forest’s ability to regenerate. civil society organization showed.
Destruction of the Amazon goes hand in hand with serious rights violations, including encroachment on protected lands and violence and intimidation against indigenous peoples and other communities that play an important role in protecting forests. At least 89 people have died in conflicts over land and resources in the Brazilian Amazon since 2019, the nongovernmental organization Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) reported. Illegal logging, mining, poaching and land seizures in indigenous territories have increased by 180% in 2021 compared to his 2018 before President Bolsonaro took office, the nonprofit said. The Indigenous Evangelistic Council reported.
In April, the Bolsonaro government submitted its latest climate action plan, the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which effectively proposes lower emissions cuts than the government pledged in 2016. This goes against Brazil’s obligations under the Paris Agreement on climate change. Make progressively more ambitious promises.
As one of the world’s top 10 emitters, Brazil is contributing to the climate crisis and increasing human rights abuses. The latest data available show that Brazil released her 2.42 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2021, according to analysis by the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimation System, a coalition of climate scientists. is shown. This is a 12% increase over 2020. Deforestation is a major driver of overall emissions.
At its current pace, Brazil could exceed its already weak 2030 emissions target by up to 137%, according to researchers at the Center for Integrated Studies on Environment and Climate Change at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
States have human rights obligations to protect people from the foreseeable harms of climate change and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that facilitate it. Brazil’s obligation to protect foresters and others from violence and intimidation by criminal groups involved in environmental destruction, and to bring to justice those responsible for these acts, is also an obligation under international human rights law.
The Lula transition team should prepare a strategy with concrete steps to reverse the environmental destruction done under President Bolsonaro.
- An updated Climate Action Plan that is more ambitious than the first submission in 2016 and consistent with the goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. The plan should incorporate commitments under the Glasgow Declaration on Forests and the Global Methane Covenant and include detailed implementation strategies.
- Non-governmental organizations with concrete operational procedures and measurable targets to dramatically reduce deforestation and fires, including restoring the capacity of environmental agencies to effectively enforce environmental laws. A plan in consultation with the group and affected communities.
- measures to ensure the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, including resuming the demarcation of indigenous territories, protecting these territories from illegal land seizures, and strengthening indigenous rights institutions;
- A national plan to protect environmental advocates and work with the governor and the Office of the Attorney General to ensure that those responsible for violence and intimidation against them are rigorously investigated and prosecuted.When
- A strategy to nullify a bill pending parliamentary consideration that arbitrarily reduces the territorial rights of indigenous peoples and accelerates deforestation.
In May, the Climate Observatory, a coalition of Brazilian civil society organizations, released a comprehensive agenda on environmental policy, including key recommendations for the incoming government. In November, Política Por Inteiro, a group that monitors government policy, called on the new president to review, cancel or replace hundreds of Bolsonaro’s environmental regulations.
As Brazil’s two main trading partners, the European Union and the United States have adopted laws restricting imports of agricultural products such as cattle, soybeans and palm oil, and their derivatives linked to illegal deforestation and human rights violations. need to do it.
The European Union should not consider ratifying its pending trade deal with Mercosur, the customs union of which Brazil is a member. Until Brazil shows its readiness to keep its promises to protect the Amazon rainforest and to combat violence against foresters. A trade deal agreed in principle in 2019 includes commitments to support the Paris Climate Agreement and fight deforestation.
Member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) need to ensure that Brazil is taking concrete steps to stop deforestation and protect environmental advocates before considering Brazil’s membership. I have. In June, the OECD adopted a roadmap emphasizing that Brazil must adopt and fully implement policies in line with its climate change goals. This includes tackling forest loss, strengthening environmental institutions, protecting the rights of indigenous and local communities, and tackling violence and impunity for violence. Threatening environmental advocates.
“Brazil has wasted a lot of time dealing with an urgent climate crisis,” Caniniu said. “The international community must continue to monitor the situation in the Amazon closely and support efforts to combat deforestation and protect forest keepers.”
