Jair Bolsonaro now remembers protecting …

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday in a letter to his American counterpart, Joe Biden, that he was ready to work with the international community for the “environmental protection” of the Amazon. and pledged to end illegal deforestation in his country by 2030.

The president said this goal will require “voluminous resources” and called for “all possible support” from the international community, governments, businesses and civil society. “We want to reaffirm, in unequivocal support for the efforts undertaken by Your Excellency, our commitment to eliminate illegal deforestation in Brazil by 2030”, indicates the seven-page letter that the presidency published on Thursday, before the chiefs summit. of State on Climate Change in Washington on April 22.

Brazil is committed to this goal by signing the Paris Agreement in 2015, an international treaty on climate change that aims to limit global warming to 2 ° Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to continue its efforts to lower it to 1.5 ° C.

But Bolsonaro’s coming to power in 2019 cast doubt on these goals, given his pro-mining and farming positions on nature reserves and indigenous lands.

The far-right leader even staged tough clashes with French President Emmanuel Macron and with Biden himself, who criticized the increase in deforestation under his tenure.

“It is in this spirit that I will participate in the Leaders’ Summit: to reaffirm my country’s will and my own will to work hand in hand with the international community for the protection of the environment and the sustainable development of the Amazonia, ”he says. Bolsonaro, in an apparent change of tone.

Bolsonaro acknowledges in the letter the increase in deforestation rates since 2012, and announces the possibility of anticipating from 2060 to 2050 the objective of achieving climate neutrality, which implies the total compensation of greenhouse gas emissions .

Both for this purpose and to put an end to illegal deforestation, he stresses the need to obtain “significant resources”.

“Brazil deserves to be fairly remunerated for the environmental services that its citizens have rendered to the planet,” adds the letter, which also ratifies the commitments to reduce greenhouse gases under the Paris Agreement.

During his election campaign, Biden vowed to raise $ 20 billion across countries to prevent Brazil from deforestation and warned of “significant economic consequences” if it did not. Bolsonaro then replied: “Our sovereignty is not negotiable”.

Bolsonaro, an ideological ally of former President Donald Trump, was the last G20 leader to recognize Biden’s victory. After the Democrat came to power, Washington said it expected Brazil “to take more concrete action” against climate change.

The destruction of the Amazon rainforest, a key resource in the fight against climate change, has increased under Bolsonaro’s administration, increasing Brazil’s carbon emissions.

Between August 2019 and July 2020, the reference period for measuring deforestation, the devastation of the Brazilian Amazon increased by 9.5%, destroying an area larger than Jamaica, according to government figures.