The Brazilian agricultural sector and government are seeking to unify the speeches to be presented during the 27th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27), which will take place between November 6th and 18th in Egypt. During the event, participating countries will present actions and positions regarding the Paris Agreement and its objective of curbing threats arising from climate change.
In a meeting held today (18) at the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), three ministers received from the entity a document detailing the position and topics considered relevant by the Brazilian agricultural sector to be debated during the conference.
According to the CNA, COP27 takes place at a time of “particular relevance” for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, amid the impacts generated by the pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine – situations that affected, in particular, food security. and energy on the European continent.
COP of implementation
In the assessment of CNA’s Sustainability coordinator, Nelson Ananias, the conference aims to be recognized as the COP for the implementation of measures and goals presented in previous editions.
According to Ananias, “the future of Brazilian agriculture began 10 years ago, with the successful low-carbon agriculture program”. “Or at least 50 years ago, with compliance with one of the most rigorous forestry codes in the world,” he added, stating that Brazilian agriculture “is not promising, but is already doing and fulfilling” the goals presented.
“Brazil has bet on ambitious goals that have, in agriculture, the fundamental basis for their achievement. To achieve the goals, the country now needs to detail [durante a COP] this strategy of achieving the proposed goals, imputing individualized and sectorial actions in the productive systems. Strategies need to be detailed at the COP,” he said.
The president of the CNA, João Martins, said that the agricultural sector “invested in agriculture that emits less greenhouse gases and also in the [recomposição e na manutenção de] native vegetation and biodiversity”, by complying with the measures provided for in the Forest Code.
According to Martins, “Brazilian producers are committed to sustainability” and, for the most part, have not backed off from their obligations. “We have expanded our production in a sustainable way, because our country is a provider of environmental and climate solutions.”
Map
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Marcos Montes, said that the concern of Brazilian agriculture “was evident in 2012, when we took a big step and created the Forest Code”, he said. The problem, he added, is that, since then, the agricultural sector “began to lose the narrative”, amid criticism, especially from the Brazilian media, regarding the supposed harmful effects of this sector on the environment.
“We were unable to show our narrative to the urban population of our country or the international population. This has caused us a lot of damage”, he added, highlighting the importance of presenting, during COP27, the point of view that “the technology we implement in Brazil is the link between sustainability and production”.
The minister added that problems and tragedies such as pandemics and wars “create opportunities”. “The pandemic and Ukraine’s conflict with Russia showed the world some situations that Brazil had already been defending”, related to the need to “produce with sustainability to feed the world”, he said.
“Sustainability is not just an environmental issue. It is economic and social. So we always need to do our homework. We’ve walked a lot. If we fix some misconceptions, our narrative will be a winner,” she added.
MMA
The Minister of the Environment, Joaquim Leite, who participated in the event, said that the federal government “understands that it has to do politics together with the agro”. “It’s not just about fines, reductions and blame for agro. On the contrary: we need to encourage a new green culture such as low carbon, which is a beautiful example for the world”, he said, stating that “Brazil has the most regenerative conventional agriculture in the world”.
“This means that every time we break production records, we improve the soil by taking carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it into the soil. This is a tool to combat the great challenge of climate change and to seek an emission-neutral economy by 2050”, he argued, pointing to agriculture as “part of the solution for a new green economy.”
“We are going to show this at the climate conference: a sustainable agro and, also, the Brazil of green energies that pass through agriculture. We broke the record for installing wind power of 21 GW, we have solar 14 GW and biomass. These three sources that pass through the agro have the potential to install 100 GW in the coming years. This can all be turned into green hydrogen and ammonia for export,” he added.
MRE
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos França, said he believed that the Brazilian economy, especially agriculture, is able to increase its competitiveness “in a context of stricter environmental rules”. “All we hear is that the entrepreneur and the agriculturist want to adapt to the highest environmental standards,” he said.
“Brazil is an unavoidable actor in all environmental issues, with territory, biodiversity, a clean energy matrix and a consistent environmental policy. These are our credentials in the international debate. These credentials must be defended and large-scale goals set [durante a COP]”, he spoke.
France said he had talked to foreign ministers from other countries, and that they had “very high expectations about the role that Brazil can play in food and energy security, especially on the European continent”.
