15/12/2010
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
of Brazil signed last Thursday (December
9, 2010) a decree detailing the National
Policy on Climate Change.
The act defines how Brazil quantifies its
greenhouse gas emissions and how it will
achieve the commitment the country made
during the United Nations Conference on
Climate Change in Copenhagen in 2009 to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between
36.1% and 38.9% by 2020 from 11000 levels.
The decree also establishes a legal requirement
for the estimation of national emissions
on an annual basis.
Setting a target volume
for emissions reductions
In order to honor commitments
made to the Convention, Brazil undertook
a national inventory of its greenhouse gas
emissions this year to quantify emissions
from 11000-2005. The emissions of 2005 were
calculated to be 2.2 GtCO2eq.
The inventory served
as basis to build the reference "business
as usual" scenario for emissions by
2020 of 3.2 GtCO2eq. The decree therefore
defines a target to reduce emissions between
1.17 - 1.26 GtCO2eq by 2020, when compared
to this reference scenario.
Brazil plans to achieve
this total emissions reduction target through
actions in all sectors of the economy. To
do so, 12 sectoral plans will be implemented
by the end of 2011 including specific targets
for emissions in each of those sectors.
Tangible actions to achieve
lower greenhouse gas emissions
The actions detailed
in the decree to reach these goals include:
- Reducing 80% of deforestation
in the Amazon
- Reducing 40% of deforestation
in the Cerrado biome
- Increasing the supply
of renewable energies
- Recovering 15 million
hectares of land degraded by cattle raising
- Improving the system
of integrated farming, foresting and cattle
raising by 4 million hectares
- Expanding direct seeding
by 8 million hectares
- Expanding biological
nitrogen fixation by 5.5 million hectares
- Expanding foresting
by 3 million hectares
- Using new technologies
to produce an additional 4.4 million cubic
meters of animal manure annually
- Increasing the use
of charcoal in the steel industry
Source: Portal Brazil
+ More
Statement of Minister
Izabella Teixeira to the General Debate
of COP-16
10/12/2010
It is my duty to thank the Government of
Mexico for the exceeding hospitality we
have received in this wonderful Cancun.
On behalf of President
Lula, I bring the best wishes to President
Calderon for the success of this Conference.
On behalf of my delegation, I thank Ms.
Patricia Espinoza for her endeavors to organize
COP-16.
We arrived at Cancun
with the firm commitment to contribute to
the best possible result of this meeting.
Mr. President,
I want to take this
opportunity to reiterate the commitment
of my government to sustainable development.
It is not mere rhetoric. On the contrary,
it is translated into public policies in
its three pillars: the social, economic
and environmental dimensions.
In the last several
years, Brazil has broken the common assertion
that economic development would always be
accompanied by an increase of emissions.
Brazil has shown that economic growth, social
justice and environmental protection are
not just compatible but can be a development
strategy.
In the last decade the
extreme poverty in the Brazilian population
was reduced by 70%. In the same period the
deforestation rate decreased over 75%.
This year alone, Brazilian
GDP is expected to grow over 7.5% and deforestation
has never been so low since weve started
to monitor back in the 80s.
This reduction of emissions
from deforestation in Brazil over the last
five years is the biggest contribution worldwide
to mitigation of greenhouse gases emissions.
Mr. President,
Although deforestation
is the major source of emissions of Brazil,
we are committed to reduce emissions in
all sectors. Last year, my government set
up a volunteer economy-wide target to reduce
emissions between 36.1 and 38.9% by 2020
compared to a reference scenario of business
as usual.
This target was incorporated
in the National Policy on Climate Change
which our Congress turned into a piece of
legislation. It represents a reduction of
emissions in comparison to 2005 levels recently
reported in the National Communication to
the UNFCCC.
Plans to reduce emissions
in different economic sectors are being
developed in consultation with the civil
society in the areas of energy, agriculture
and in the steel industry. In total, 12
sectorial plans will be implemented by the
end of 2011.
This sense of responsibility
did not hinder our economy. On the contrary,
today Brazil is an emerging economy and
was able to show resilience to the world
financial crisis.
Moreover, we have been
able to create South-South cooperation programs
to transfer technologies that contribute
to fostering sustainable development such
as the forest monitoring systems, including
satellite data and imagery.
I am happy to announce
that today President Lula signed the Decree
of utmost importance.
It sets the 2020 reference
scenario of national emissions, thus establishing
the absolute voluntary emissions target
for Brazil for that year. It also determines
that Brazil will publicize an estimation
of its greenhouse gases emissions on an
annual basis.
Together with the Amazon
Fund and the Climate Change Fund, this decree
sets a new cornerstone to implement the
UNFCCC principles in Brazil
Mr. President,
Under the spell of the
natural beauty of Cancun, we are hopeful
that the discussions we've had until now
in this COP will stimulate parties to act
with wisdom and show political will so that
we are able to reach here decisions that
pave the way for our common future in a
fully sustainable world and the ultimate
goal of the convention.
We wait for you in Rio +20 in 2012.
