Status: 01/02/2023 12:42 p.m
Under Bolsonaro, Germany’s relationship with Brazil was difficult. Now that Lula is in office, the Federal President and the Environment Minister are trying to restart. In focus: the protection of the rainforest.
In the beginning everything is a bit chaotic. The departure from Berlin is repeatedly postponed by a few hours. The reason: It is not clear until the very end whether the meeting between Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the elected President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, can take place one day before the inauguration or whether the Federal President will only speak to Lula the following day.
In the end, the appointment still works out in the old year. Steinmeier is one of the few who can talk to Lula for an hour before the inauguration. Germany launches a charm offensive.
new beginnings in relationships
After difficult years during the Bolsonaro presidency, the federal government wants to restart bilateral relations between Germany and South America’s largest economy.
Brazil is an important partner in the fight against climate change. Germany has a great interest in Lula being successful, for example in his fight against illegal and – still – legal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
Lemke wants an alliance to save the rainforest
At the invitation of the Federal President, Environment Minister Steffi Lemke is also taking part in the trip. While Steinmeier is meeting Lula, Lemke has an appointment with the designated Brazilian Minister for the Environment, Marina Silva. The appointment is supposed to last half an hour, but the two women obviously have a lot to say to each other. Only after 90 minutes do they separate again.
Lemke says on Sunday that they want a new alliance in cooperation with Brazil to save the rainforest. She is firmly convinced that the new government will be a “really good partner” for this.
Amazon fund payments
Germany is making advance payments even before the start of the new government. The Federal Republic is again supporting the so-called Amazon Fund. This is intended to promote sustainable projects. In 2019, Germany stopped making payments because, according to German sources, the government at the time had not kept to agreements. Now the 35 million US dollars of the German contribution will be released again.
The Federal Environment Minister also hinted on Sunday that saving the rainforest would not fail because of international money. But for now there is enough money. Now it’s a matter of putting this to good use.
Nature conservation and climate change in the foreground
The Brazilian President wants to put the protection of the Amazon region and the fight against climate change at the forefront of his future government work. At the climate conference in November, Lula said there would be no climate security in the world without a protected Amazon region.
The President also mentioned the Brazilian rainforest in his inaugural speech on Sunday. When the presidential sash was handed over, he also had a representative of the indigenous peoples with him for the first time. They are inextricably linked to the Amazon rainforest.
Protecting the Amazon is a mammoth task
The Brazilian Amazon region is considered an important CO2 store. It spans nine Brazilian states. In terms of area, it is roughly the size of Western Europe. Protecting him will be a mammoth task for the new Brazilian government.
Not only the clearing of the forests is a big problem. The largely illegal search for gold also endangers the future of the Amazon rainforest. It is estimated that there are around 100,000 illegal gold diggers in the region. They often use dangerous substances such as mercury to get their hands on the coveted gold.
The protection of forests will therefore not only be a question of new laws. They also need to be enforced. That is also a difficult task in this huge area.
Germany wants to help
Federal President Steinmeier said in Brasilia that it was important that the green lungs of the earth, the Amazon rainforest, were preserved. Germany wants to help protect them.
On the third day of his trip, Steinmeier will therefore visit a center for monitoring deforestation in Manaus and the ATTO research station in the rainforest together with Environment Minister Lemke on Monday.
The Federal President and the Minister for the Environment want to get an idea of the situation there. The station is operated jointly by German and Brazilian scientists, who research the complicated interactions between the condition of the rainforest and the development of the global climate.
But the visit to Brazil is only the start of a German charm offensive for what is probably the most important country in South America. In a few weeks, Chancellor Scholz also wants to visit the new President Lula and reaffirm German support for his plans.