Oh Well!! US Support For Anti-Deforestation Programs In Brazil Almost Certain To Evaporate

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The importance of the fund was recognized by former U.S. President Joe Biden: “I will leave my successor and my country a strong foundation to build on if they choose to do so,” he said when announcing the promised investment. He also took a moment to praise ongoing environmental efforts, especially renewable energy, and encourage their progress: “Which government will stand in the way and which will seize the enormous economic opportunity?” With the election of Donald Trump, however, experts tell me they believe that the new government will not be able to implement the donation, which still needs to pass through the U.S. Congress.

Trump has already announced several executive orders that set aside the entire agenda of combating climate change, which seemed to put this funding at risk even before the announced freeze on State Department funding. The State Department did not respond to requests about the status of the promised funding in the days after the hold on foreign assistance was announced. Meanwhile, people I spoke with in Brazil were concerned the change in administration means other corporations or governments will no longer be inspired to also donate to Fundo Amazônia.

“The funds announced are very small,” admits Márcio Holland, professor of economics at FGV. “More important than the amount is the gesture. It’s the U.S. initiative to start as one of the fund’s donor countries. It’s a gesture that other countries could follow.” But Holland doesn’t seem to expect that gesture to be made under Trump, who made clear during the election that he will not take the environmental debate seriously. “Clearly,” he says, “his agenda is anti-climatic and, in the same way, it is contrary to this whole discussion of the Amazon, of Brazil being important in the balance of the world environment. This discussion doesn’t cross his mind.”

Mauricio Santoro, a political scientist and professor of international relations and collaborator at the Brazilian Navy’s Center for Political and Strategic Studies, agrees with this view and believes that the Trump administration could still be hostile to the current Lula administration’s conservation agenda. “With Trump back in office, his government will probably resume an agenda that is very hostile to Brazil in environmental terms, denying that climate change is underway and creating obstacles to more environmental financial aid for developing countries,” he says.

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https://therevelator.org/trump-amazon-deforestation/