At COP-15, minister Minc presents government actions to reduce CO2 emissions

15/12/2009 - The Brazilian minister of the Environment, Carlos Minc, presented yesterday (December 14), at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-15) in Copenhagen (Denmark), the actions the Brazilian government is taking to reduce illegal logging and the emissions of greenhouse gases.

Minc highlighted the drop of deforestation in the Amazon, which registered, in 2009, the lowest rate of the last 21 years, as a result of measures carried out by Ibama and by the Green Arc Operation, which offers sustainable economic alternatives for municipalities in the region.

The minister said that 20% of the resources from the Amazon Fund will be invested in actions to combat and control deforestation in other Amazonian countries. He also said that Brazil will support African nations in monitoring the deforestation in that continent.

Just before participating in the event of the Brazilian government in Bella Center, the minister attended the Forum of Governors of the Amazon, where the seven governors of the region called for the adoption, by COP-15, of the REDD system (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), which can leverage the various sustainable development projects that encourage the inhabitants of the Amazon to keep the forest standing.

Minc said in his speech that the "maturity of the governors of the Amazon" permitted to reach a level of union capable of making a collective defense of the proposal for the adoption of the REDD system. Referring to the debates that are being held at COP-15, the minister stressed that "without discussions regarding the forest, there won't be successful negotiations for the future of the planet".

On his first day at COP-15, Minc also attended a meeting of ministers of the participating countries. The group is trying to reach an agreement in Copenhagen, to replace the Kyoto Protocol that ends in 2012.

DO MMA