G20 environment ministers back funding for forest conservation

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Environment ministers of the Group of 20 nations agreed Thursday to support the creation of funding sources for ecosystem services, acknowledging Brazil's proposal to establish a trust fund for forest conservation.

The Brazilian initiative, known as the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, would reward tropical forest countries for protecting critical biomes.

Unlike the Amazon Fund, which rewards Brazil if it succeeds in reducing deforestation, the initiative would benefit all tropical forest nations based on the area preserved, paying local and Indigenous communities involved for maintaining ecosystems that “benefit everyone,” João Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary of Brazil’s Minister of the Environment, told journalists after the ministers' meeting.

The environment ministers of leading rich and developing countries assembled this week in Rio de Janeiro for four-day meetings to discuss climate change and sustainability. The topic is one of Brazil's priorities as it hosts the G20 presidency until the end of the year, with heads of state convening in Rio next month.

Over the past few days, environment ministers discussed efforts to address climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. They also assessed public and private financing strategies to support climate change adaptation, transition policies and the disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations, Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva said in opening remarks at Thursday's meeting.

“We have no time to lose, and we cannot leave anyone behind," Silva said. She addressed extreme events that have afflicted her own country this year, including a deadly flood in southern Rio Grande do Sul state and an historic drought that helped spread massive wildfires across the country.

“In the Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal biomes, record drought isolates communities and cities and triggers wildfires of enormous proportions," Silva said. “The situation is no different globally, showing in three dimensions the damage and suffering that average temperatures of 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels are already causing to much of humanity.”

The declaration emphasized scaling up mitigation and adaptation efforts. It also reiterated the signing ministers' support for the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Other focus areas included oceans, waste reduction, circular economy and plastic pollution.

Heads of state on Nov. 18-19 will assess the proposals their proxies have developed in the run-up to their meeting.

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has put issues that concern the developing world — such as the reduction of inequalities and the reform of multilateral institutions — at the heart of the country's G20 presidency.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Brazil at https://www.apnews.com/hub/brazil