Lula opposes Colombia with defense of fight against poverty – 07/12/2023 – Environment

Faced with the proposal by the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, to interrupt new oil projects in the Amazon, President Lula (PT) told the president of the neighboring country that the priority is to fight poverty in the region, together with the fight against deforestation. The petista did not signal support for Colombia’s proposal.

The positions manifested by Lula to Petro were reported to the Sheet by government sources who followed the meeting between the two presidents. They requested anonymity.

The Chief Executives met last Saturday (8) in Leticia, a city in Colombia close to Tabatinga (AM), on the triple border that includes Peru.

Lula went to the region at Petro’s invitation. The two had a closed bilateral meeting and then participated in the closing of the technical-scientific meeting on the Amazon, which also included the Ministers of the Environment or representatives of the eight countries of ACTO (Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization).

In addition to the scientific meeting, the meeting in Leticia served for diplomatic negotiations on the joint declaration to be adopted at the Amazon Summit, scheduled for August 8 and 9, in Belém. The summit should bring together the presidents of ACTO countries.

It was in the context of these negotiations that Colombia made three proposals: abandonment of new oil exploration projects in the Amazon; eliminate illegal mining in the region by 2030; and zero deforestation by 2030.

According to sources who accompanied Lula and Petro’s meeting, the Brazilian said that the matter is dealt with internally, taking into account the protection of the Amazon. The petista said that the actions will focus on combating deforestation, and that the priority is the fight against poverty in the region.

In the speech read at the end of the technical-scientific meeting, Lula did not mention the issue of oil, he stated that the rest of the world is unaware of the urban Amazon and mentioned Brazil’s commitment to zero deforestation in the biome by 2030.

“Many people do not realize that most of the Amazon population is urban. Of the 26 million people who live in the Brazilian Amazon, 12 million live in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. These people need adequate infrastructure, education,” he said. . “The rainforest cannot be seen only as an ecological sanctuary.”

Petro made an impromptu speech, with incisive statements about oil. “Are we going to allow oil exploration in the Amazon? Are we going to hand over blocks for exploration? Is this generating wealth? Or is it the death of humanity?”, he questioned, alongside Lula.

Afterwards, the Colombian Presidency distributed to journalists a text about Petro’s speech, whose title says that the Colombian urged Lula to reflect on the convenience of permitting oil exploration in the Amazon.

The intention to explore for oil in the region recently caused a crisis between government sectors and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, commanded by Marina Silva (Rede), who was also in Leticia.

Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), linked to the ministry, denied, in May, Petrobras’ request for a license to drill for oil in the region of the Foz do Amazonas basin. The state-owned company said it should insist on the project.

For members of Brazilian diplomacy, Petro’s anti-petroleum banner has radical contours, could cause commercial and energy problems in the country and is unrealistic. The president of Colombia, according to these members, does not offer a counterpart of what will be put in place, in case of total interruption of oil exploration contracts.

The joint declaration at the Amazon Summit, in August, should not move forward on the oil issue, according to the understanding of Brazilian diplomats expressed at the meeting in Leticia.

The Minister of the Environment, in an interview with journalists at the end of the event in the Colombian city, said that Brazil’s position will be discussed at the National Energy Policy Council.

“President Lula gave a sign of the great investment that will be made in the area of ​​clean, renewable and safe energy, with a focus on solar, wind, biomass and green hydrogen production”, stated Marina.

According to her, the debate on oil in the Amazon “will be concluded in each country’s time”. “We want to carry out a process of productive discontinuity. The world has a fossil energy matrix, everyone is in a race to make this substitution, and Brazil certainly has the best conditions to make this transition”, she said.