DUBAI: Following the historic agreement signed during COP28 in Dubai, Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, emphasised the moment as a strengthening of the world’s multilateral process.
“The issue of loss and damage is a demonstration of all this”, said the Brazilian Minister in an interview with WAM. “This agreement sends a signal to the world of choosing life, choosing solidarity, choosing work because things don’t happen by magic,” Marina Silva added.
Reflecting on the details of the COP28 outcome, the Minister states that the final accord allows for thinking about sustainable development. “The decisions made here, as a starting point, are the basis for initiating investments that will be incomparably more enduring because they are aligned with nature,” explained the Minister.
Marina Silva also praised the work of the COP28 presidency, classifying it as “unifying’. The Minister highlighted the collaboration between the United Arab Emirates and Brazil in organising climate co
nferences, as the COP30 will be held in 2025 in the Brazilian city of Belém, in the Amazon region.
Looking ahead, Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change explained what she expects from the event. “I think COP30 will set ambitions, NDCs [Nationally Determined Contributions], according to the Mission 1.5, and an issue that no one talks about, it is not just adapting, it is not just mitigating, it is also transforming. And we leave here with this strong signal to governments, the productive sector, investors that what we are doing here is a great transformation,” expressed Marina Silva.
As host of COP30, the Brazilian Minister said that Brazil is already advancing in its goals to curb climate change. “What I would like to see, let’s say we are already doing it, obviously, is to have a zero-deforestation agenda by 2030 – currently in the process of achieving this goal — as we are already doing now, with a 50 percent reduction in the eleven months of President Lula’s government,” said Silva.
For B
razil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the climate crisis is urgent, and responses to curb global warming need to happen immediately. “After thirty years, there is no more postponing actions. After thirty years, beyond ambitions, it is necessary to make it clear what our commitments are. What will make a difference is the commitment,” Marina Silva affirmed.
“I think humanity is capable of surprising itself when faced with extreme situations. And we have reached the extreme point of the climate crisis, and we are certainly leaving here with the hope that, even if it’s the foundation, we will build something grand on these foundations,” concluded the Brazilian minister.
GLOBAL FIGURE
As COP28 ended, Nature Magazine, the world’s leading science journal, first published in 1869, named Marina Silva one of the ten people who helped shape science in 2023. The magazine calls Marina the Amazon Protector, “the Brazilian politician who turned the tide on deforestation” – as it highlights the simple origi
ns of Marina, born in 1958 in the heart of the Amazon region in a low-income family of 11 children.
Nature explains that Marina Silva delivered a hopeful message last August in a year with bad environmental news – such as record global warming, heatwaves and fires. “Brazil’s environment and climate-change Minister announced that there had been a 43 percent drop in deforestation alerts on the basis of satellite images of the Amazon rainforest between January and July 2023, compared with the same period in 2022.” The announcement, says Nature, marked a sharp shift from the previous four years, which had registered a rise in such alerts.
Last November, Time Magazine chose Marina Silva as one of the 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders in Business for 2023. The publication also highlighted Marina Silva’s work in building climate resilience and limiting deforestation.
Source: Emirates News Agency