SAO PAULO (AP) — Britain pledged Friday to contribute about $100 million to the Brazilian government’s fund to protect the Amazon rainforest, as the South American country beefs up environmental protection under its new government. .
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office in January, announced the contribution to the Amazon Fund on Friday after meeting in London ahead of King Carlos III’s coronation scheduled for Saturday.
The fund was launched in 2009 to fight deforestation and build sustainable initiatives in the Brazilian rainforest, a vital natural reserve that absorbs carbon from burning oil, natural gas and coal in South America. The committee that governs it was partially dismantled when right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, and restarted by Lula this year.
“President Lula has shown great leadership on climate change,” Sunak said on Twitter, adding that he was pleased Britain was contributing 80 million pounds ($101 million) to the fund, “so we can help stop deforestation and protect biodiversity.”
US President Joe Biden pledged this year to join Norway and Germany in resuming donations to the initiative that had been suspended during Bolsonaro’s presidency.
Biden said in April that he would seek congressional approval to send $500 million over five years to the Amazon Fund. However, government officials have been pessimistic about getting congressional approval for climate support abroad, especially with a Republican-majority House of Representatives.
