Rainforest giants Brazil, Indonesia, DR Congo sign deforestation pact

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
14 Nov 21:40

The vast tropical rainforests of all three countries are threatened by logging and agriculture.

All three nations have vast tropical rainforests threatened by logging and agriculture. (AFP)

Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo formally launched a climate partnership on Monday to collaborate on conservation efforts.

The vast tropical rainforests of all three countries are threatened by logging and agriculture. "Representatives from Indonesia, Brazil, and DRC... announced a tropical forest cooperation and climate action in the Egyptian COP27 (climate summit) side event on November 7, and agreed to sign a Joint Statement today," Indonesia's coordinating minister of maritime and investment affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said in a statement.

"We do need cooperation with others to achieve common goals. Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much," he said on the eve of the G20 summit.

The agreement calls on the international community to compensate all three for reducing deforestation, with a focus on shared issues, such as access to climate finance and the price of a tonne of carbon in the carbon-credit market.

According to an Indonesian statement, the countries "have a common interest in collaborating to increase the value of their tropical forests, and to ensure that these tropical forests continue to benefit the climate and people."

Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected to pledge a reversal of his right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro's environmental policies to protect the Amazon rainforest.

His visit to the COP27 talks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Wednesday will be his first international trip since defeating Bolsonaro in an election run-off last month.

He pledged to work toward zero deforestation. Foreign Minister Carlos Franca will represent Brazil at the G20 summit on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is home to 60% of the vast Congo Basin rainforest, has come under fire for holding an auction in July for oil and gas blocks, some of which are in sensitive areas.

The impoverished central African country believes that developing its fossil resources is an economic necessity. However, the country's Environment Minister, Eve Bazaida Mazudi, stated that the three countries can work together to find solutions to climate change.

"The world is currently getting warmer and warmer, so humanity needs rainforests to bind CO2," she said, according to the Indonesian statement.