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Monday, September 18

 

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Temer Turns to Trump for Political Survival

1.6 million say: "Temer - Don’t Sacrifice the Amazon”

In New York, Avaaz members surprise Brazilian president Temer at Trump dinner, vow to chase him everywhere he goes to ensure he stops the attacks on the Amazon

 

New York, NY -- Tonight as Brazilian President Temer dines with Donald Trump, Amazon advocates ambush him with a viral call to stop destroying one of the world’s most important forests. Temer has done more to remove protections for the rainforest than the last three Brazilian presidents combined; Using the Amazon as bait for protecting his threatened political career.     

 

As Joseph Huff-Hannon, Senior Campaigner for Avaaz, said: “In a desperate attempt to protect his own career President Temer is willing to sacrifice the Amazon for all future generations. But more than a million people around the world are rising up to tell Temer, ‘We will not let your corruption kill the Amazon.’"

 

After Avaaz’s Amazon campaign went viral in Brazil, garnering 900,000 supporters in days, hundreds of thousands around the world took notice and joined the call. As the 1.6-million-person Avaaz campaign says:

 

We demand that you listen to the appeal of the Brazilian people and stop, once and for all, passing laws, decrees, and any other irresponsible legislative measure to please the interests of powerful parties and politicians. This abuse triggers deforestation and the irreversible destruction of the Amazon rainforest, which is part of the shared heritage of humanity for present and future generations.

 

President Temer is historically unpopular and is under investigation for corruption. In an attempt to save his career, he's tried to pass a series of bills selling off historic chunks of Amazon forest to corrupt businessmen in return for political protection. Twice now, after pressure from Avaaz and others, he was forced to withdraw bills that would have destroyed massive amounts of rainforest (bills 756 and 758), and suspended a decree that would have extinguishing the RENCA reserve.

 

The petition was delivered to members of Congress from different parties on August 30 with indigenous leaders, NGOs and Marina Silva (former Minister of Environment under Lula's administration), as well as to the Speaker of the House and Brazil's Senate President. And now it’s followed Temer to the US.

 

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Temer: World’s Biggest Threat to Amazon Rainforest

 

Deforestation in the Amazon has increased by 62% from 2015 - 2017. Experts say we’ve already lost over 20% of the forest, and nearly 40% of the Amazon forest is considered "damaged" due to logging/land grabbing and agriculture.

 

Temer's coalition in Congress is pushing over 30 bills to remove forest protections, easing limits on land-grabbing, mining and big agriculture in indigenous territories. These bills have been interpreted as “payback” to ruralista MPs, in exchange for their support in protecting Temer from corruption investigations led by the Supreme Court.

 

The top threats upcoming to Brazil’s Amazon include:

 

• A bill that would remove all requirements for environmental licensing for major infrastructure projects (like mining, logging and roads). With pressure from the agribusiness caucus in Congress, insiders says Temer is expect to fast track the bill any moment now.

• The RENCA Reserve is a protected area with more than 47,000 square kilometers -- the size of Denmark. In August, Temer issued a decree eliminating the Reserve to allow mining. Temer revoked the decree twice. Now, the Senate is trying to vote a measure to revoke Temer's decree, which is up for a vote on September 20.

• The National Forest of Jamanxim is the most impacted area in the Amazon -- in the last two years, it has lost 16,000 hectares. Congress wants to reduce the size of the area by 27%. After Temer introduced the bill in Congress with "urgency", his coalition presented 12 amendments to cut more protected areas: nearly 1 million hectares of forest could be lost.

 

Brazil's Global Forest Protection Partners Up in Arms:

 

Germany

The Director of Climate Policy at the German Ministry of the Environment Karsten Sach said:

"We want to increase our cooperation with Brazil, because we have a long and good tradition. But what Norway decided was consulting people, because we work very closely, and this measure is a consequence of what we agreed from the beginning with the Brazilian government - payment based on results. "

 

Norway

Norway’s Environment Minister Vidar Helgesen said: “In 2015 and 2016 deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon saw a worrying upward trend.” He warned that this had already reduced Norway’s contributions and added: “Even a fairly modest further increase would take this number to zero.”