The United States government has committed to spending up to $1 billion to contribute to the conservation of the Amazon rainforest. According to President Joe Biden, the protection of forests guarantees the absorption of carbon produced in North America.
“We are working with partners around the table to mobilize $1 billion to preserve the Amazon and other critical ecosystems in Latin America. You know the Amazon is a huge carbon sink. The more carbon it absorbs every day than the United States puts out every day. And it needs to be preserved and they need help to do it,” Biden said during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
According to Biden, the American government is committed to fighting deforestation in the Amazon because the forests of North America barely absorb 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions produced in their country.
The American government also asked Congress to approve another $25 billion to be used to strengthen multilateral banks to fight the climate crisis.
The government of Colombia, for its part, approved the intention to invest 150 million dollars to revive the Amazon rainforest in the national territory.
“Saving the Amazon rainforest is not the main policy, but it is important as part of an agenda to solve the climate crisis. It is one of the best sponges for absorbing CO2, which will be one of the largest emits CO2 into the atmosphere, when it burns,” insisted President Petro.
Currently, the Colombian Ministry of Environment shows, the amount of deforestation has decreased. The report shows that between January and September of this year, destruction in the Amazon decreased by 70% compared to the same period in 2022.
In Colombia, according to MinAmbiente, the deforested hectares went from 59,345 hectares to 17,909 hectares.
“This is an encouraging number, but we do not want to be victorious, nor announce that here we have won the war against deforestation,” warned the Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad.
