President-elect says he will work to save Amazon rainforest and key ecosystems in COP27 speech
President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told Global that “Brazil is back” at COP27, vowing to begin repairing the environmental destruction seen under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, and paint toward deforestation 0 of the Amazon rainforest.
After a carnival atmosphere he attended on Wednesday, Lula told the climate summit that his leadership would go more than ever through environmental issues by cracking down on illegal mining, illegal logging and agricultural expansion, and restoring climate-critical ecosystems.
In his first primary speech since winning the election, Lula said Brazil did not want to trade another hectare of rainforest to be a primary agricultural producer, and that he would use his presidency to call on rich countries to fulfill their pledge of $100 billion in weather funding for upcoming countries and identify a fund for loss and damage financing.
Punctuated with scans of “olé, olé, olé, ola, Lula, Lula,” the president-elect’s speech brought a much-needed sense of hope to COP27.
“Ole, ole, wave. . . Lula. . . Lula” Large crowds expect @LulaOficial to speak once in #Cop27 pic. twitter. com/cZuTWWL1rY