From BZ/dpa
Former Brazilian head of state and presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wants a new environmental and climate policy if he wins the October elections.
“We will stop illegal gold mining and fight deforestation very seriously,” Lula told international journalists in São Paulo on Monday. Not a single tree has to be cut down to plant soy or corn or raise cattle.
In addition, environmental and control authorities should be strengthened again, which were weakened under President Jair Bolsonaro. “If the world is willing to help, preserving a tree in the Amazon can be worth more than any (other) investment,” Lula said.
Thousands of hectares of rainforest are destroyed every year by slash and burn Photo: SMS WA . .
On the other hand, Brazil should not be in a hurry to ratify the free trade agreement between the South American alliance of states Mercosur and the European Union.
“What we want is to sit down and discuss according to each individual’s needs and rights,” Lula said. “What we don’t want is to give up our interest in the reindustrialization of Brazil.”
In the summer of 2019, after years of negotiations, an agreement in principle was reached on the establishment of the free trade zone. However, the deal is now being questioned by several EU countries such as France and Austria. Some countries want to protect their markets, others fear that labor or environmental standards will be weakened.
In Brazil, a new president will be elected in about six weeks. There is a duel between the right-wing populist Bolsonaro and the left-wing Lula. According to surveys, Lula is ahead of Bolsonaro, who sees the Amazon region, which is enormously important for the global climate, primarily as an economic area.
Lula’s verdict overturned
In a TV interview on Monday evening (local time), Bolsonaro rejected the fact that deforestation had increased under his government. “The Amazon is as big as Western Europe,” he said. “Do you think monitoring, preventing fires is that easy?” Instead, Bolsonaro criticized the environmental agency Ibama for destroying heavy equipment confiscated from illegal gold diggers.
Lula ruled Brazil from early 2003 to late 2010. In 2018 he was sentenced to a good twelve years in prison for corruption and money laundering. The popular politician was therefore unable to take part in the 2018 presidential election, which Bolsonaro won. In 2019, Lula was provisionally released from custody. Last year, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict.