Governor of Pará represents the Amazon on a UN panel on Brazil’s leadership on the climate agenda

In the event that discusses the implementation of concrete actions to change the future of the planet, the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, participated this Tuesday afternoon (15) in the panel “Can Brazil be a global climate leader again? The role of the Amazon in Brazil’s zero net emissions”, promoted by the United Nations (UN). The panel is one of the official agendas of the 27th edition of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP 27), which takes place until next Friday (18) in the city of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

UN data reveal that Brazil is the 6th largest emitter of CO2, and half of the deforestation recorded in the world is in the Amazon. Pará is the state that emits the most Greenhouse Gases (GHG). Therefore, an urgent action to reinsert Brazil in the global climate geopolitics was presented during the panel by different multi-sector voices, emphasizing the fight against deforestation and the promotion of sustainable development in the country.

Participating as panelists were Andreas Dahl Jørgensen, director of NICFI (Norway’s International Climate & Forest Initiative); Ane Alencar, science director of the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (Ipam); the governor of Pará and representative of the Consortium of Governors of the Legal Amazon, Helder Barbalho; Marina Ferro, executive manager of the Instituto Ethos, and Renata Piazzon, director of the Instituto Arapyaú and representative of Concertação Amazônia.

The governor of Pará highlighted that the world can expect a new political and institutional moment. It is a moment in which Brazil presents a unique opportunity, combining the strength and good experience of the subnational states, added to the efforts that the civil society has been making in the climate agenda, to join the Federal Government in the construction of a collective policy, in which everyone can effectively raise Brazil to the leading role in the global climate agenda.

Dialogue – “In the last four years, the Consortium of Governors of the Legal Amazon has experienced a fundamental role in the construction of dialogue with countries, public and private institutions, which has allowed Brazil not to be in climate isolation, and the Consortium has been a protagonist of the dialogue of the Brazilian Amazon region with the global climate agenda”, emphasized Helder Barbalho.

This initiative allowed the Subnational Governments to build their local agendas, presenting themselves to the world, but always prioritizing the dialogue with the Brazilian government. And from the new moment of the election of the new president, the Union now has an important ally, bringing the Federal Executive to the center of the actions of national leadership of the climate agenda.

“The gesture of president Lula (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) of accepting the invitation of the Consortium of Amazonian Governors, and making his first international trip to the climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh, reaffirms Brazil’s positioning for this agenda. This gives us all hope and the expectation that the political credibility and global leadership already experienced by president Lula when he was at the head of the Brazilian government will allow Brazil to effectively build the climate solutions, becoming the central protagonist for environmental issues,” added the governor of Pará.

Still according to Helder Barbalho, “based on this, we have the obligation to use this asset to present to the world Brazil’s vision for the climate agenda, conciliating effective actions to combat environmental illegalities, to meet reduction goals and to make our country carbon neutral, and on the other hand to act in the constructions of sustainability that allow us to reconcile the existing activities in Brazil of land use for the transition to low carbon economies and the use of the forest as an environmental asset, either with bio-economy, carbon sequestration and appropriate uses for the environment, “he concluded.

Race to Zero – Pará joined the agreement for the state to join the Race to Zero campaign, a United Nations movement to curb global warming. Race to Zero is a global initiative to bring together leaders with the goal of achieving zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

The adhesion to the UN campaign is directly aligned with the State Policy on Climate Change (PEMC, State Law No. 9.048/2020) and the State Plan Amazonia Now (PEAA, established by State Decree No. 941/2020). Aiming to change the panorama of the climate agenda in the state, the plan is aligned to the State Policy on Climate Change as an incentive to activities that promote the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions; prevention; control; presentation of alternatives to deforestation and environmental, economic, financial and fiscal strategies for environmental protection. The actions should make Pará a “Net Zero Emitter” state as of 2036, 14 years before the global target.

With information from the Pará Agency