Alma E. Muñoz
Sent
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, November 19, 2024, p. 3
Rio de Janeiro., In front of the leaders of the main economies on the planet, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo proposed establishing a fund to which one percent of our countries’ military spending
equivalent to about 24 billion dollars a year, to replicate the Sembrando Vida program worldwide, the emblematic scheme of the Fourth Transformation in Mexico, and turn it into the largest reforestation plan in history on a global scale. With this, mitigate global warming and restore the social fabric, helping communities escape poverty
.
This fund – which represents 12 times more than what Mexico allocates to that program – would be to support 6 million tree planters who They would reforest 15 million hectares, something like four times the area of Denmark, all of Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador combined, or 30 percent of Sweden.
stated the President when participating for the first time in the G-20 summit.
The proposal is stop sowing wars; let’s sow peace and life
said the Mexican president, flanked during her presentation by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. Behind her was the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
And two chairs from his place, barely separated by Macron, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who used a translator to listen to his Mexican counterpart’s message. In the same session was the president of China, Xi Jinping, and a delegation from Russia, three countries that, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, are part of the 10 nations that spent the most on weapons in 2023.
Sheinbaum Pardo criticized that the world spends more on arsenals than on addressing poverty or climate change. What is happening in our world, that in two years spending on weapons grew almost triple that of the world economy? How is it that the economy of destruction reached a cost of 2.4 trillion dollars? How is it that 700 million people in the world still live below the poverty line? It is absurd, meaningless
.
He considered that with his approach, presented in five minutes, We would reduce migration, hunger, if we only raised the word love above hate; the generosity of the humble and dispossessed person, above greed and the desire for domination. I refuse to think that we are capable of creating artificial intelligence and incapable of giving a hand to those who were left behind
he highlighted.
▲ Clear and direct, President Claudia Sheinbaum presented in five minutes her proposal to reduce spending on weapons and increase funds to fight poverty.Photo Presidency
After congratulating his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for the progressive and fair initiative of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty
stressed that Sembrando Vida, one of the most ambitious programs in Mexico, “consists of giving poor families in the countryside a daily wage, technical training to plant timber and fruit trees, as well as other crops.
We allocate 1.7 billion dollars every year to support 439 thousand families in Mexico, and 40 thousand in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In six years, more than one million hectares have been reforested with the planting of 1.1 billion trees, which is equivalent to capturing 30 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Before 19 heads of state and prime ministers, in addition to 10 leaders of nations invited by Brazil, Sheinbaum Pardo stated that since 2018 Mexico is one of the least indebted countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with the lowest unemployment rate, the minimum wage more than doubled in six years, education and public health are strengthened as rights and 80 percent from families receives direct support
.
Later, when participating in the work session Reform of global governance institutions, he considered that the international order created has lost its effectiveness in offering solutions to crises. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are tangible examples of this.
and called stop the economy of destruction. The absurd wars must stop
.
He expressed that the G-20 has the ability to contribute to moving towards a more representative, inclusive and transparent global governance reform.
He also praised the three constitutional reforms that were recently approved in Mexico: the judicial one, to recognize the substantive equality of women and the full recognition as subjects of law of indigenous peoples and communities, as well as Afro-Mexicans.
