On day three of the Foreign Minister and Labor Minister’s trip to Latin America, the focus is on the climate crisis. According to the WWF, 20 percent of the original area of the Amazon region has already been destroyed.
With a visit to the northern Brazilian city of Belém today, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil are making the climate crisis the focus of their joint trip to Latin America. In the Amazon region, the Green politician wants to visit the island of Combu together with her SPD colleague. During a tour there, among other things, a visit to a cocoa cooperative is planned.
In the city of Belém (Portuguese for: Bethlehem), Baerbock and Heil then want to see the work in a wood processing company. A visit to the environmental control authority is also planned. Among other things, the deforestation of the Amazon region is monitored there and replacement afforestation is planned. The tropical rainforest is observed with the help of satellite and radar images.
Belém is located south of the world’s largest river island in the Amazon estuary at the mouth of the Rio Guamá. With around 1.5 million inhabitants and around 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, the city is the largest and most important city in the Brazilian Amazon region after Manaus. Brazil’s government is promoting Belém as the venue for the COP30 climate change conference in 2025.
Amazon region important CO2 store
The Brazilian Amazon region is considered an important CO2 store. During the tenure of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), deforestation and slash and burn increased sharply. The ex-military saw the rainforest primarily as untapped economic potential and gave farmers and gold miners a largely free hand when it came to land grabbing. He reduced funds for the control authorities or deprived them of their powers.
President Lula wasn’t exactly seen as a Green in the past either
The new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was not exactly considered a Green in his previous two terms of office (beginning of 2003 – end of 2010). But now he has promised to strengthen environmental and climate protection. The police recently went ahead with a large-scale operation against illegal gold prospectors.
WWF: Amazon home for ten percent of all species
The Amazon rainforest is spread across nine South American countries, with Brazil accounting for the largest share. According to the nature conservation organization WWF, the largest rainforest in the world with an area of around seven million square kilometers binds twelve percent of the freshwater on earth and is home to ten percent of all species in the world. The WWF calculates that around 20 percent of the original area has already been destroyed. According to scientists, a tipping point could be reached at 25 percent, from which point the ecosystem can no longer regenerate.
State of Pará Brazil’s main source of aluminum
According to the Federal Foreign Office, the Brazilian state of Pará, in which Belém is located, is the most important source of aluminum (90 percent), manganese (69 percent) and copper (64 percent) and the largest producer of agricultural products such as cassava, pineapple and cocoa. In terms of average per capita income, however, the state of Pará is 35 percent below the national average – it ranks 16th out of the 27 states.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
