2:43 p.m. ET, November 1, 2021
Brazil says it aims to end all illegal deforestation by 2028
From CNN's Camilo Rocha and Hira Humayun
The Brazilian delegation to COP26 presented a plan that included a goal to end all illegal deforestation by 2028.
In the presentation, which followed a speech by Brazil’s Environment Minister Joaquim Leite, the Brazilian delegation announced Brazil’s action plan to reduce illegal deforestation starting in 2022 by 15% every year until 2024 – and then 40% in 2025 and 2026 and 50% in 2027, with a goal to end all illegal deforestation by 2028.
US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry tweeted:
Marcelo Freire, Brazil’s Joint Secretary for Climate International Relations at the Ministry of Environment, presented Brazil’s plan which included the country’s goal to restore and reforest 18 million hectares of forests, for multiple uses, by 2030. The initial goal, according to the delegation, was to recover 12 million hectares of forest by 2030 but the government says it already reached 16 million hectares in 2020.
Regarding the energy sector, the action plan included increasing the use of biofuels like ethanol and increasing the use of renewable energy, and reducing emissions.
“We are going to continue increasing industrial standards and using technologies that are less intensive in emissions,” Freire said
The plan also included incentivizing and advancing the manufacture of hybrid and electric vehicles, implementing specific programs to reduce emissions in the agriculture sector, investment in new railroad networks to transport freight and reduce road transport to reduce emissions. According to the plan, one railway could bring a roughly 77% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere compared to road freight transportation. The plan also aims to create new standards for industrial processes and the facilitation of green businesses.
Hours before the presentation of Brazil’s plan, Human Rights Watch said Brazil’s climate commitments and policies “fall far short” of what is needed to address the crisis in the Amazon, the group said in a
statement. The Brazilian delegation arrived in Glasgow with a national action plan “less ambitious than its previous one” and that the government lacked a credible plan to save the Amazon rainforest, the HRW statement said.
“The Bolsonaro government now wants the world to think it is committed to saving the rainforest,” said Maria Laura Canineu, Brazil director at Human Rights Watch. “But this commitment cannot be taken seriously given its disastrous record and failure to present credible plans for making urgently needed progress in fighting deforestation.”
Some background: Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon
soared since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019 and surged to a 12-year high in the year between August 2019 and July 2020, according to the country’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). According to INPE, during that time, more than 6,800 square miles were destroyed – the highest levels of destruction since 2008.
INPE recorded 985 square kilometers — or about 380 square miles — of deforestation in the Amazon in September 2021. It is the second highest figure ever recorded by the institute for the month of September, with the worst being 1,454 square kilometers (or 561 square miles) in 2019.