The environmental movements hope that Brazil will assume a leadership position in the discussion on climate change, one of the chief topics at the G8 Summit Meeting, which ends today, in Gleneagles, Scotland.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is a guest participant at the meeting of leaders of the world’s seven richest countries and Russia.
“Brazil is the world’s fourth biggest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to our elevated indices of deforestation. This gives the country a great responsibility for the solution of the question of climate change on the planet,” affirms Marcelo Furtado, director of Greenpeace campaigns in Brazil.
“One of our major concerns is that this meeting not be limited to empty rhetoric. The population is tired of listening to rhetoric and wants to see concrete actions, with definite timetables, goals, and resources,” he observes.
Greenpeace sent a letter to President Lula last Friday, July 1st, asking him to join with the G8 leaders to encourage a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and to put pressure on the United States to implement measures to combat climate change.
The United States refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the only international agreement that makes it mandatory to adopt policies and targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Furtado, other international organizations are directing similar appeals to the Brazilian President.
Industry, energy production, and transportation consume large quantities of petroleum, coal, and natural gas, generating billions of tons of carbon gas that is launched into the atmosphere each year, altering its balance.
The changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere are manifested around the world in the form of droughts, floods, tropical cyclones of greater intensity, etc.
In the judgment of environmentalists, it is fundamental for the G8 countries to assume their responsibility for the global warning of the planet by setting additional goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and supporting developing countries in the search for solutions.
“The G8 can provide support through resources and technology, until the developing countries cease being part of the problem and join the group that is part of the solution,” Furtado believes.
“The presence of President Lula is very important, to make the rich countries do their homework and finance developing countries in discovering solutions to the problem,” he affirms, stressing Brazil’s potential for generating energy from renewable sources.
Furtado even thinks that Brazil can lead the debate on solutions to the problem of climate change among developing countries. But the environmentalists also hope that Lula will present solutions for the problem of deforestation.
“We hope that Brazil assumes responsibility for dealing with the issue of deforestation in the Amazon, which affects the country and contributes to the global problem of climate change.
It is essential for President Lula to arrive at the G8 meeting able to guarantee that we will no longer have shameful indices,” emphasizes the Greenpeace director.
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