President Gustav Petro participated on Monday in United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP 27, being celebrated in Egypt, where he called for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest.
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The Colombian president reiterated that “Saving the Amazon rainforest is not the main policy, but it is substantial, as part of an agenda to solve the climate crisis”, and that for this reason his government has put forward a proposal to the countries of the world, added to the effort of planning to stop consuming oil and coal in the short term.
“Saving the Amazon rainforest means life, it means building a multilateral fund that is capable for 20 years of financing for years the social forces, peasants, farmers, humble people in general, who are today the agent of destruction of the jungle. It is transforming them into a positive force, which means paying them monthly for environmental services, for caring for and letting the Amazon rainforest grow.”, said Petro, who confirmed that he already has the support of Venezuela and hopes that Brazil will also join.
Petro promised that Colombia “is going to put in that fund US$200 million every year for 20 years”, but that awaits the contribution of the world. Before his presence at COP 27, different experts analyzed the message he brought to the international community.
(See: Why Petro says that the world ‘fixes itself’ without oil and without coal)
Alejandro Useche, professor at the U. del Rosario, described as ‘important’ that Colombia leads the debate. “The fight against climate change has a high cost, but it can bring a greater economic benefit, not only for the productive apparatus but for life. The president has spoken of the creation of a fund for a minimum term of 20 years, where between US$400 or US$500 million will be collected annually so that these resources contribute to specific programs to promote the care of the Amazon rainforest”, he assured.
In turn, Gustavo Ramírez, a professor at the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), stated that the president’s participation in COP 27 seeks to strengthen and concretize his proposal to save the Amazon and, in addition to a compensation for doing it. “COP 27 is an international stage where he reaffirmed his intention to lead this initiative. The President, with his proposal to save the jungle, has an attractive speech for all nations that can position him as a global political leader“, said.
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From the environmental emphasis, the expert Claudia Santoyo, highlighted that the presence of Petro in the conference, “is the voice to remind the world of the importance of protecting strategic ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest, in addition to the social and economic conflict in a country, which has caused its deterioration”.
Also, he considered that the message regarding the energy transition is correct, therefore, “the use of fossil fuels is inherent to the climate crisis”.
Petro, at COP 27.
For the economist and professor at the Catholic University, Hernán Felipe Trujillo, the president’s participation ratifies the importance that climate change has in the government program and its bets on environmental matters.
(See: Petro’s 10 proposals to combat the climate crisis).
“His commitment to an energy transition leaving abiotic resources such as coal and oil underground seems very strange to the economic elites (even more so to the local ones), but at COP27 they will find a more favorable scenario because both the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ) and the United Nations have insisted on the need to move towards that path” he expressed.
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