One week before summit, U.S.-Brazilian Amazon talks come to a standstill

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro is expected at the meeting, organized by U.S. President Joe Biden with 40 heads of state to discuss environmental preservation, but so far there are no signs that a settlement can be reached before April 22nd, with the two countries far from an agreement.

According to the sources, the Brazilian government is asking for the release of resources in advance to be able to improve forest protection and develop sustainable projects in the region.

However, the Americans insist on seeing results from Brazil’s commitment to lower deforestation before handing over any resources.

The negotiations began in February with a videoconference between U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry, and environment minister Ricardo Salles, and then-foreign minister Ernesto Araújo -replaced last week by Carlos Alberto França.

Since then, Brazil and the United States have held regular meetings at the technical level to try to reach an agreement. The negotiations ended up focusing on deforestation, a vital issue in the discussions against climate change, with the possibility of the US government financing actions in a Brazil with serious economic problems.

Deforestation in the Amazon exploded in 2019 after Bolsonaro’s election and reached in 2020 the highest rate since 2012, with 11,088 km² of forest disappearing between August 2019 and July 2020, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research.

Sought, the Environment Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the negotiations.

The U.S. State Department said it hopes to see a clear commitment from the Brazilian government to end illegal deforestation, adopting clear steps to increase the effectiveness of law enforcement, and a political signal that deforestation and forest encroachments will not be tolerated.

“We believe it is realistic for Brazil to achieve a real drop in deforestation by the end of the 2021 burning period,” the emailed statement said.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said it is in negotiations with the United States on climate change and ways to increase protection of the Amazon, but that the talks are “exploratory exercises” and not formal discussions.

According to the body, efforts to fight deforestation since 2006 have prevented the emission of billions of tons of carbon dioxide that, if adequately compensated, would amount to somewhere between US$30 and US$40 billion.

To effectively combat deforestation “huge resources are needed, especially from international cooperation, which the Brazilian government hopes to be able to count on”, says the note of the ministry.

The impasse centers on when and if the United States would pay the Brazilian government for the protection of the Amazon.

Salles, who has been leading the negotiations on the Brazilian side, has publicly stated that he has asked the U.S. government for US$1 billion in aid to reduce deforestation. One of the sources confirmed that the request was presented to the Americans.

In an interview to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo this month, the minister stated that with these resources he could reduce deforestation between 30% and 40% in 12 months. Without the funding, he said, the country would have difficulty in setting a target.

However, so far the US government has made it clear that payments will only come with results. This includes a drop in deforestation this year and improved operating conditions for environmental agencies, weakened by the Bolsonaro administration, the sources said.

The message coming from the US government is that a firm commitment is expected from the highest levels of the Brazilian government to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and that the expectation is to see results later this year.

Despite a reduction in the numbers in recent months, there is concern about the risks of further increases during the dry months in Brazil.

The sources heard by Reuters point to the difficulty of reaching an agreement to be presented at next week’s summit.

“I wouldn’t bet money on it,” one of them said. “It’s not that there is no interest, I just don’t think there has been enough time to discuss a specific agreement.”

An early ally of former US President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro was taken by surprise by the election of Democrat Joe Biden, which he did not believe would happen.

With the change of government in the U.S., the issue of climate change -and, consequently, the deforestation of the Amazon- changed levels and became central to the relationship between the two countries, which forced the Brazilian government to change its stance.

Source: Moneytimes