Brazil should be “rewarded” for preserving the Amazon – Vice-president Mourão

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “I believe that there should be a negotiation in the sense that Brazil should be rewarded for this work in favor of the rest of humanity,” Mourão said in an online meeting.

The number two of the Brazilian government recalled that if 50% of Brazil’s surface is Amazon biome and 80% must be kept intact, efforts “to cooperate with the rest of the world” are considerable: “We must preserve 10 Germanies,” he said.

This year, President Jair Bolsonaro publicly said several times that Brazil’s goal is to end illegal deforestation by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Mourão noted that, at the Glasgow summit, the South American country will anticipate “in 2 or 3 years” its commitment to eradicate illegal deforestation.

However, deforestation and fire rates in the Amazon have not stopped growing since Bolsonaro came to power, largely due to his anti-environmental protection rhetoric and budget cuts to agencies that fight this type of crime.