By Merve Berker
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday that all countries must act together in the face of the threats arising from climate change.
Speaking at the World Climate Action Summit COP28 in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Brazilian leader touched on carbon emissions, the financing of climate change precautions, worldwide problems arising from the issue itself and the responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of world leaders and countries in general.
"Many world leaders are committed to saving the planet," he stressed, adding that the world has spent over $2 trillion in 2022.
He questioned the amount of carbon emissions that are caused by the "missiles that cruise over the skies and fall over."
"1% of the richest part of the planet emits the same volume of carbon as 66% of the population," he criticized.
Touching on the natural disasters caused directly or indirectly by global climate change, such as drought and floods, Brazil's Lula lamented that many families cannot even "feed" themselves anymore.
"The injustice that penalizes the younger generation is only one of the faces of the inequalities that affect us, the world or naturalized the disparities," he decried.
Describing all these as "unacceptable in terms of income, gender and race," he further indicated: "I can't imagine confronting the climate change without fighting inequalities."
"To reduce socio-economic vulnerability means to build resilience, visa vie the extreme events, it also means that we should have the conditions to redirect all the endeavors to fight global warming," he suggested.
-'Non-fulfillment of commitments'
In addition, he talked about "the non-fulfillment of the commitments" as he thinks that these "erode the credibility of the regime that is necessary to rescue the belief in multilateralism."
"It is unexplainable that the UN, despite all the endeavors, shows itself incapable of keeping peace simply because some of its members profit from war," he criticized, underscoring: "It is regrettable that the agreements from the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 or the Paris agreements in 2015 are not being implemented."
"No country will solve their problems alone. We are all obliged to act together," he said.
Mentioning that his country is "willing to lead as a role model" regarding achieving the climate change goals, Lula said that Brazil adjusted them much more ambitiously than "many developed countries."
"We have drastically reduced the deforestation of the Amazon region, and we will have zero deforestation till 2030. We have formulated an ecological transformation plan to promote green industrialization, low carbon agriculture and bio-economy," he stressed.
"We have forged a common vision with the Amazon countries, and we've built bridges with other countries that maintain tropical forests," he praised.
Meanwhile, he also pointed out the need for "decarbonization of the planet" and turning the world economy into one that does not mainly rely on fossil fuel.
"We have to do it and in a way that is urgent and fair," he advised, calling on other countries to "work in a constructive way to pave the way between COP28 and COP30" that Brazil is expected to host "in the heart of the Amazon tropical forest."
Warning all that there is no second Planet Earth and "we are a unique species called humanity," he referred to the words of Pope Francis: "We need to live within the fraternity."