With the election of Lula da Silva and the return of Brazil to its indispensable place in international politics, favourable conditions have been created so that, starting with the environmental/climate issue, a new strategy to fight climate change can be built, producing cascading effects in the most varied areas of society, based on effective multilateralism.
Because it is a unique moment that may mark the options for the next decades, around fifty Portuguese and Brazilian personalities from the most diverse sectors of civil society - from former ministers, artists, writers, representatives of youth climate movements, former ambassadors, academics, indigenous communities, activists of various ages and from various civil society organisations - came together on 28th of December to present the Brazil-EU Manifesto for a Stable Climate - A Common Heritage of Humankind.
In this sense, the signatories state that talks should be resumed in the framework of the EU/MercoSur agreement, to which an “environmental addendum” should be added, in order to form a strategic partnership for a Stable Climate, based on the concerns expressed on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Manifest was built around four objectives/priorities:
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Define the defence of the environment and biodiversity as the strategic orientation of its relations.
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To draw up a new strategy to meet the Paris objectives, creating a legal framework based on a system of environmental accounting that allows rapid progress towards the goal of cleaning up the atmosphere, providing incentives and compensation for negative emissions.
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Create an EU-Mercosur forest fund to begin the process of cleaning up the atmosphere (negative emissions) and providing other ecosystem services of the utmost importance for maintaining a Stable Climate.
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The recognition of Stable Climate as a Common Heritage of Humankind, through an international treaty involving all members of the United Nations and the relevant regional and inter-regional cooperation organisations.
The signatories invite everyone to add their name to this initiative by sending an email to: manifestouebrasil@gmail.com.
"This Manifest is an idea that unites us, it comes to meet what the Humanity of today needs, a hope in the middle of this terrible impasse we are currently experiencing in Europe and in the world. But your proposal aims at something more than the impasse we are living today, which will end, God willing, soon, it aims at letting the Earth breathe so that it will be possible for future generations to live on its surface".
Lídia Jorge
"Congratulations on the initiative. Excellent material. (...) The EU-Mercosur agreement cannot be only commercial. It has to have a wide range of environmental protection actions, especially for the Amazon.”
Carlos Nobre
"Manifest, in favour of an EU commitment to Brazil, founded on the requirements of the Paris Agreement to reduce CO2 levels on the Planet. The proposal corresponds to a realistic and open vision for fair and balanced forms of compensation. Compensation mechanisms for those who produce ecosystem services have to be assumed with all their implications, both at planetary, regional and local level."
Luís Braga de Cruz
Articles and news about the Manifest launched on 28 December 2022:
