LFJM COP 2020

Honourable chair, fellow delegations, dear NGOs,

With its territory spanning over 8 500 square km, Brazil is the largest South American country. The prosperity of our nation heavily depends on the well-being of the resources, since 82% of the country’s energy comes from renewables. In Brazil, there is a great variety of rich ecosystems, a dynamic biodiversity and many natural resources such as fertile arable, land and minerals. Brazil’s agrarian industry not only feeds the world but also constitutes 24% of the national GDP, being a vital source of income for the country. Since our development and prosperity are heavily tied to the well-being of our resources as well as the efficiency of our agrarian industry at a global scale, the delegation hopes to establish a clear balance between necessary development in a globalized world and protection of national resources. Even though Brazil prospers from its forest, mountains, rivers, plains and coastal area, the country suffers from the effects of accelerating climate change, destroying its riches.

Similarly, in the light of this Commission’s subject of debate focusing on a sustainable Governance, the delegation hopes to establish a system to responsabilise big C02 emitters without putting a stop to the world’s economy. Brazil today strongly relies on renewable energies and is one of the countries emitting the least amount of greenhouse gas pollution, an achievement we can be proud of when looking at the strength of our industry at a global scale. We are thus ready to lead negotiations to ensure an optimal governance of resources at a national level, to optimize development and minimize environmental deterioration as much as possible. However, the delegation of Brazil wishes to remind the Commission that it is vital to ensure a country’s independence when taking care of its resources, since no global policy could adapt to all climates, and particularly such a diverse and complex environment as Brazil. This is why the delegation wishes make sure that national governments lead the decision process when it comes to deciding what will happen to resources, as delegating such a complex task to an organ that has no true understanding of the stakes will only be counterproductive. Indeed, Brazil’s industry does not need to be closely supervised as national policies adapt on their own to arising concerns, like today’s numbers clearly show: to tackle the resources deplation caused by forest fires, in 2020 Brazil cut down it’s forestry industry’s quotas by 10%. An internal adaptation of the state policy to face the natural threat shows our determination to preserve our resources, exploiting them reasonably. It also conveys that no strict limitation of exploitation of resources for industrial purposes is needed, since quotas change each year because factors that can only be understood by the country’s expert point of view on the matter.