Brazilian elections, climate change, coherence and priorities
Posted on 03. Oct, 2010 by Juliana Russar in Brazil
While in Brazil it is still Sunday morning and everyone is concentrating on the elections, here across the world, more precisely in Tianjin, China, the day is almost over. But what am I doing here in such an important moment for our country? Tomorrow, October 4th, a new round of UN climate talks begins (14th session of the AWG-KP, Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I countries of the Kyoto Protocol, and the 12th Session AWG-LCA, Ad Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action) and will last until next Saturday, October 9th. This is the last meeting before CoP-16, to be held in Cancun, Mexico, in late November.
Before speaking about the current state of negotiations and, as I mentioned the elections, I can’t forget the memorable moment of the then Minister, Dilma Rousseff, at CoP-15. At the time she was appointed as head of the Brazilian delegation and said at an event, attended by ministers from China, India and South Africa and members of the Brazilian delegation, that the environment is a threat to sustainable development. Surely she would not say that, at least for that audience, in that place. It was a Freudian slip. But slips do not reveal our deepest thoughts that inhabit the subconscious?
Copenhagen also served as an electoral grandstand for the other two major candidates for the Brazilian Presidency: Marina Silva (PV – Green Party) and José Serra (PSDB – Brazilian Social Democratic Pary) who both attended the historic 15th Conference of the Parties (CoP-15). Despite all the politicians present in Copenhagen, climate change, unfortunately, does not occupy the space deserved in the candidates’ platform (and, very likely, it will not be a priority on the agenda of their future government), except for the candidate of PV. Dilma (PT – Worker’s Party) and Serra can talk about the subject, but this will always be a minor issue for them, because their thoughts are stuck in the first decades of the second half of the 20th century and their ideas and plans were not renewed for the dynamic and challenging reality of the 21st century, that certainly requires a new look at Brazil and the world.
Everything indicates that Dilma will be elected president of Brazil. Can we expect continuity and improvement of President Lula’s governmental policies or complete indifference to the environmental area? I know that the performance of the government left a lot (a lot!) to be desired, but we cannot forget that we had important achievements in recent years like the publication of the Brazilian National Plan on Climate Change in CoP-14, the approval of a law establishing the National Policy on Climate Change just after CoP-15, the creation of the Amazon Fund and the drop rates of deforestation in the Amazon. I have many criticisms about them, especially about the real implementation of the Plan and the National Policy on Climate Change but at least we now have instruments established by law in order to monitor and press its implementation by the government. On the other hand, we suffered some defeats, the latest ones are the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam and the discussions about changes in the Forestry Code. A really concerned President would, in the first case, make a cautious assessment about the venture, leaving aside the fixation on big numbers and constructions and, in the second case, mobilize his allies in Congress.
How long will Brazil continue suffering this schizophrenia? Is it worth taking a step forward and three backwards? When will we have a really consistent Head of State that gives wonderful speeches one day and then never talk about these things again with the same level of commitment and passion? (I’m talking about Lula’s speech in the last day of CoP-15.)
Inspired by Martin Luther King I would like to say that I have a dream that one day Brazil will have a population educated enough to understand that environmental issues and climate change are indeed development issues and should be a priority for the country. I have a dream that the ruler of the country will follow the will of the people.
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