Lula pledges to fix Amazon Rainforest at COP27
Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was received by cheering crowds Wednesday at the ongoing United Nations climate conference, where he pledged to reinvigorate and preserve the Amazon Rainforest, Bloomberg reported.
In a pair of appearances at the Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt-based conference, known as COP27, Lula said he was "here in front of all of you to tell you that Brazil is back."
"Brazil can't be isolated as it was in the last four years," he added.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lula, a well-known leftist icon in Brazil, won the presidency by defeating right-wing incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, under whose leadership the Amazon has seen its highest rate of deforestation in six years, BBC News reported. Lula, though, has said he would make environmental issues one of his highest priorities upon taking office.
"There will be no climate security if the Amazon isn't protected," Lula said, per The Associated Press. He added that his government is planning to crack down heavily on illegal logging and mining within the rainforest.
According to The New York Times, Lula also told the crowd that being invited to COP27 prior to taking office was "an acknowledgment that the world is in a rush to see Brazil participating once again in the discussion of the future of the planet and all the human beings that live on it."
While the Times noted that Lula did not make any new policy announcements, his words provide assurance that climate change will be at the top of his agenda.
-
Trump sues JPMorgan for $5B over ‘debanking’Speed Read Trump accused the company of closing his accounts for political reasons
-
TikTok finalizes deal creating US versionSpeed Read The deal comes after tense back-and-forth negotiations
-
Minnesota roiled by arrests of child, church protestersSpeed Read A 5-year-old was among those arrested
-
A running list of US interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean after World War IIin depth Nicolás Maduro isn’t the first regional leader to be toppled directly or indirectly by the US
-
Trump pulls US from key climate pact, other bodiesSpeed Read The White House removed dozens of organizations from US participation
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
