Lula: Amazon belongs to all humanity – 06/22/2023 – Environment

“The Amazon is a sovereign territory of Brazil, but at the same time, it belongs to all of humanity,” said President Lula (PT) in a speech to a crowd participating in the Power Our Planet festival this Thursday (22) in Paris.

The presidential speech came in a break for appearances by global leaders amidst concerts by artists such as Billie Eilish and Lenny Kravitz.

“We are going to be tough with anyone and everyone who wants to cut down a tree to plant soybeans, corn or raise cattle”, continued the president, who reinforced the numbers on the protection of the Amazon and the large supply of renewable energy in the country, an exception before dependence on fossil sources in the rest of the world.

Lula once again defended that rich countries pay for environmental conservation in developing countries.

“It wasn’t the African people who polluted the world. It wasn’t the Latin Americans. In fact, those who polluted the planet in the last 200 years were those who made the Industrial Revolution and, therefore, have to pay the historical debt they owe to planet Earth”, he said, to applause and screams from the audience.

Another moment of applause came when Lula reinforced the commitment —made by Brazil for the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015— to zero deforestation by 2030.

In a speech lasting about six minutes, Lula also invited the audience to visit the Amazon during the COP30 do Clima, a UN climate change conference to be held in the city of Belém at the end of 2025.

_{The reporter traveled at the invitation of the French Embassy in Brazil.}

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}