Climate action took center stage at COP29 meetings in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 11–22. More than 150 nations gathered to discuss how to further slow the rate of climate change and conserve nature for wildlife.
On COP29’s first day, the Brazilian government announced a new goal, targeting a 59–67% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across its whole economy. The key to meeting this goal? It’s ending deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. So far, the government is on track for its 2035 goal.
This statement came five days after Brazilian officials announced that the country has already seen a large drop in deforestation.
Between August 2023 and July 2024, deforestation has declined by nearly 31%. The forest lost about 2,400 square miles of trees, which may seem like a lot, but it is a considerable drop compared to the last 15 years.
The Associated Press said this decline in deforestation is largely due to the shakeup in Brazil’s executive branch. After former president Jair Bolsonaro, a controversial figure who prioritized agriculture business expansion, current president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva has taken a much firmer stance on the Amazon’s conservation.
However, the Amazon wasn’t immune to problems. A drought led to forest fires, which caused more destruction. The COP30 climate talks are also set to take place in Belém, one of Brazil’s Amazonian urban hubs. Amid the backdrop of the jungle, world leaders will need to show actual progress on climate change.
Photo Courtesy Neil Palmer/CIAT
Brazil’s new goal presented in Baku formed the second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. NDCs are national climate action plans offered by each nation under the agreement and are updated every five years to meet more ambitious targets.
The South American country, the fifth largest in the world by geographical area, is sixth in global carbon dioxide emissions produced.
A government statement said Brazil hopes to curb 850 million to 1.05 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2035.
Saving the Amazon is more than saving biodiversity. The jungle is home to several Indigenous Tribes. They have been integrated into modern Brazilian society in certain ways but have lived off the land for generations, even after European colonization. Deforestation has been largely done for cattle ranching.
However, since the Amazon is classified as a carbon sink, deforestation of the jungle will allow more CO2 to remain in the atmosphere, leading to worsening climate change. It plays a key role in creating oxygen and the water cycle. A 2021 study published in the Nature journal pointed to the loss of trees and vegetation in the eastern Amazon with a long-term decrease in rainfall and temperature increase during its dry season, turning parts of the rainforest from a carbon sink to a carbon source.
“Using nearly 10 years of CO2 (carbon dioxide) measurements, we found that the more deforested and climate-stressed eastern Amazon, especially the southeast, was a net emitter of CO2 to the atmosphere, especially as a result of fires,” John Miller, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Monitoring Laboratory, said in a news release. “On the other hand, the wetter, more intact western and central Amazon, was neither a carbon sink nor source of atmospheric CO2, with the absorption by healthy forests balancing the emissions from fires.”
Photo Courtesy D. Gordon E. Robertson
Quelling emissions from Brazil will do the planet a lot of good, especially since it is home to such a valuable resource in the Amazon. The jungle is necessary for our survival. A further reduction in emissions will make it that much more important.
“There’s more work to do of course, and I am certainly not complacent; there are still challenges ahead there,” Simon Stiell, UN climate change executive secretary, said in a press conference in Baku. “The bottom line is we are a long way from halving global emissions this decade. So, progress at COP29 is absolutely essential. And we must help countries pick up the pace over this final week.”
The conference touched on other climate action plans like establishing a carbon credits market and passing policies for the protection of various animal species.
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