|
 Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday, June 4, that rich nations should pay poorer countries to preserve their forests because the rich are responsible for most of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
Lula said he would propose a fund to reward developing countries that reduce the rate at which they cut down their forests during this week's Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany.
Countries "should be financially compensated," Lula said in his weekly radio address, "Breakfast with the President."
The proposal, floated by the environment minister, would reward nations that keep deforestation below projections and would compute the funding based on how much carbon was kept out of the atmosphere.
Lula said that "65% of (greenhouse) gas emissions in the atmosphere are produced by rich countries, so they have the biggest responsibility to clean up the planet". Only a tiny fraction of Europe's original forests remain, while Brazil has preserved more than 60%, insisted the Brazilian president.
Brazil is home to the bulk of the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness, the Amazon, which covers nearly 60% of the country, or about 1.6 million square miles.
However, most of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation and burning in the Amazon rainforest, releasing about 370 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year, about 5% of the world's total, scientists say.
About 20% of the rainforest has already been cut down and while the rate of destruction has slowed in recent years, environmentalists say it remains alarmingly high.
Mercopress
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Same for your trade of goods ! You are charging a much higher import tax than we do, but you dont understand that we too produce goods and services, This despite you already have a very high trade surplus with the USA, EU and Japan.
Quite normal for you to charge 100 % import tax on foreign cars and PCs, but not normal that the USA charge a far lower rate on your ethanol. Same for Europe, they charge only 19 cents per gallons, but still too high !
Sorry but the EU charge a much higher tax on oil than on ethanol. No oil producer complain, but you do on your ethanol !
In my view, we should simply agree to have a reciprocal tax rate. You charge 100 % on whatever and we charge 100 %...TOOOO !!!!
As to the Amazon, you said time and time again that it is YOURS ! And you are dead right ! Thus take care of it at your own expenses !
You cant say half the time it is yours when you deforest it, and that it also belong to the world nations...especially the riches to have them pay the bill for a reduced deforestation. Sorry cheaters, but not deforesting is certainly cheaper than deforesting....by definition !
furthermore you have said time and again that you have 100 millions hectares of degraded land that you could use for your agriculture.
Therefore simply uses these 100 millions hectares...if you really have them.
Obvious and very simpppppple !