In an interview with CNN, former director of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) Ricardo Galvão stated that the Amazon is becoming a carbon emitter. According to the expert, this is due to deforestation.
“We are practically reaching a point of balance: we neither absorb more nor emit more [gás carbônico]”, said Galvão. “If we continue to deforest, we will emit much more carbon dioxide than we absorb from the forest.”
The Minister of the Environment, Joaquim Leite, presented, this Monday morning (1st), Brazil’s goals at COP26, more daring than those initially considered. According to the minister, Brazil should reduce 50% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and neutralize carbon emissions by 2050.
Initially, the government’s proposal was to present a reduction of between 45% and 48% of emissions by the end of the decade, as anticipated by CNN’s international affairs analyst, Lourival Sant’Anna, on Sunday (31). There was also the expectation that Brazil would not sign any decision related to the neutralization of carbon emissions until the middle of the century.
In addition, the Brazilian government is studying bringing forward to 2027 or 2028 the current goal of zeroing illegal deforestation in the country, which today is for 2030.
According to the former INPE director, there are doubts whether these promises can be fulfilled. “The government does not currently have an internationally accepted credibility,” he said.
Reference: CNN Brasil
