Since the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Brazil has played an important role in climate change negotiations and an important role in mitigating climate change. Brazil has been a crucial role with regards to deforestation as they are home to one of the biggest carbon sinks, the Amazon Rainforest, and their progress in the direction of protecting the environment have since stopped.
With the election taking place in Brazil and the election of Jair Bolsonaro, the face of Brazil is changing and is following in the footsteps of Trump. Bolsonaro has openly expressed his disagreements with the current environmental policies set in place with emission reductions and regulations as well as protecting the forest, and the future of Brazil is looking more and more drastic. The governors and representatives in Brazil have also showed their support of Bolsonaro and this is a frightening thing for the environment. Bolsonaro has also said he wishes to terminate the ministry of environment in Brazil and merge it with the Agriculture Ministry, this is also troubling for the reason that most people in the Agriculture Ministry are generally opposed to land protection policy and there would be a direct conflict between preserving the environment and using it for agriculture.
Bolsonaro would like to open up the Amazon Rainforest to mining and agriculture and use that for economic gain. He also wants to abolish illegal deforestation penalties, and in response to these claims, during the election period there was a 36% increase in illegal deforestation indirectly due to what he has said. His position on deforestation goes directly against the paris agreement pledge to have zero illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.
He has great support from industry, his policy favors them greatly and they support him in return. The likes of mining, logging agriculture and construction.
His political agenda threatens the biodeiversity of Brazil which is being worked on heavily to preserve. Brazil is the most biodiverse country in the world and the president elect plans to open up the Amazon to much destruction.
Brazils role in climate change negotiations since unfccc
-what should their role be based on history
-what is their role actually and how is it different than what is fair
Bolsanaro elction is the biggest obstacle now
-talk about all his open oppositions against the current state of brazil
Talk about ernest Araujo
President Elect Jair Bolsonaro has appointed Ernesto Araujo to be the foreign minister of Brazil, Ernesto is an open climate skeptic and is now the head of the department that handles climate change negotiations for Brazil.
Talk about the impact he will have and is already having with climate change
His rise to power has shifted the impact Brazil has held on climate change and it is only going to get worse and worse as he takes office in January.
His denying of hosting the cop25
Brazil also pulled out of hosting the COP25 because of budget concerns and the recent governmental change. This withdrawal is a symbol to show how Brazil is going to play a role in the future of climate change negotiations. Their role is no longer going to be that of a leader in mitigation but rather as following in the footsteps of President Trump. Bolsonaro stated he would plan to withdraw from the Paris Agreement but has since taken back that claim, still a claim that is not taken lightly in the international climate negotiation realm. He believes that the environmental regulations in place in Brazil are holding back economic growth and has also stated he wants to assimilate Indians into society, despite the indigenous peoples stating they want to remain in solitude.
What does brazil have to say about climate change, the people
What do the citizens think about bolsanaro?
Brazil compared to other BASIC countries
Climate mitigation
Policy
What have they done
Criticisms
What is the national interest in negotiations
Are they for more justice or about equally distributed justice
Talk about the principles the far reaching proposal
Brazil is apart of the BASIC countries and these countries generally support that the developed nations should be the leaders in responsibility of cutting emissions. The developed countries however believe generally that the developing countries and the BASIC countries especially should also cut their emissions to the same degree that the developed countries will have to. For Brazil when comparing it to the historical emissions, they have emitted barely a fraction of what the other developed nations have done and BASIC has been open about how they at least deserve the self determination to continue emitting until they have reached the level of wealth the developed nations have, and then they will begin to curb their emissions.
The policy principles that we learned in class, grandfathering, polluter pays principle, beneficiary pays principle, ability to pay principle and emissions egalitarianism all would effect Brazils emissions differently. And the far reaching proposal would be viewed by BASIC countries as a way for the developed countries to move some of their historical responsibility onto themselves unjustly.
Brazil under the grandfathering principle would not be able to emit as much as they do today because they would not have been grandfathered in to the emissions that they have today. Brazil under the polluter pays principle would pick up some responsibility for the injustice caused by their emissions, but it wouldn’t be as substantial to that of the United States or that of a European Country. This principle takes into account historical emissions and this responsibility is favored by countries who are now developing because they view it as fair that countries who have mainly caused the problem should have the largest responsibility in fixing it.
Brazil in the face of climate change negotiations can be seen as one of the top developing countries, one of the BASIC countries.