Under Bolsonaro, the Brazilian rainforest is being destroyed at breakneck speed. The new President Lula wants to do better. His government will receive millions from Germany for this. “Without Brazil, climate protection will not work,” explains Development Minister Schulze.
The German Development Ministry (BMZ) is supporting the new Brazilian government with an emergency climate protection program with a volume of 200 million euros. The funds are earmarked for forest protection and afforestation projects and are to be used during the first 100 days of left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his government in office, as the BMZ announced during a visit by head of department Svenja Schulze to Brazil.
According to the information, 93 million euros from the emergency program are to go to small farmers to support them in reforesting deforested areas. 31 million euros have been earmarked for a newly established fund that is to provide money for the protection and sustainable use of the Amazon forest with immediate effect.
According to the BMZ, a further 35 million euros will go to rainforest projects via the so-called Amazon Fund. Germany had already pledged these funds in 2017, but the fund was frozen under Lula’s right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Furthermore, according to the information, the emergency program is intended to support small and medium-sized companies with 30 million euros if they invest in increasing energy efficiency.
In addition to climate protection, the aim of the measures is to improve the situation of the indigenous population groups in the Amazon region, explained the BMZ. Their livelihoods are being destroyed by deforestation and other encroachments.
According to her ministry, Schulze agreed to work closely with the new Brazilian environment minister, Marina Silva, and the indigenous minister, Sonja Guajajara. The structural change promised by Lula towards a more sustainable economy will only succeed “if it is also social, if it is fair and if individual regions or population groups are not left behind,” explained the German minister.
A lot depends on Lula’s success – “for all of us,” emphasized Schulze. “Without Brazil, climate protection will not work.” The Amazon forest is also known as the “green lung of the planet” because of its essential role in protecting the earth’s climate. Under Bolsonaro, the destruction of this forest progressed at breakneck speed.
Cooperation with the new Brazilian government on climate protection will also be a central topic of the visit by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is expected to be in Brazil this Monday as the last stop on his trip to South America. A meeting between the Chancellor and Lula in Brasília is planned for Monday afternoon (local time), in which Schulze is also to take part.