Bipartisan group recommends how Joe Biden can help save the Amazon :: Dancehall Reggae :: Forums

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Posted January 30, 2021 03:14 AM

A bipartisan group of former U.S. officials have joined forces to propose a set of policy recommendations to help the Biden Administration deliver on its campaign pledge to put $20 billion toward the protection of the Amazon rainforest. The group, which calls itself the Climate Principals, today delivered its Amazon Protection Plan to the administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

The Climate Principals include Bruce Babbitt, former Governor of Arizona and U.S. Secretary of the Interior under Bill Clinton; Frank Loy, former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs under Bill Clinton; Stuart Eizenstat, former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton and Ambassador to the European Union; William Reilly, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under George H. W. Bush; Todd Stern, former Special Envoy for Climate Change under Barack Obama; Tim Wirth, former U.S Senator from Colorado and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs under Bill Clinton, and Christine Whitman, former Governor of New Jersey and Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under George W. Bush. Members of the group have been involved with climate diplomacy for “all Presidential administrations from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to the 2015 Paris Agreement” according to a statement released by a group.

Bipartisan group recommends how Joe Biden can help save the Amazon

The group, which calls itself the Climate Principals, today delivered its Amazon Protection Plan to the administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

The Amazon Protection Plan has four main pillars: mobilizing funding for conservation from private and public sources, building forest-friendly policies into trade agreements, requiring companies disclose and manage deforestation risk in their supply chains and portfolio investments, and strengthening international diplomacy around forest conservation.

“This is a balanced plan aimed at taking urgently needed action to protect the Amazon rainforest based on targeted economic incentives, public and private funding, the sharp reduction of global demand for goods that drive illegal deforestation, and constructive engagement with Brazil that is premised on respect for its national interests and awareness of its desire to participate in various international economic and trade arrangements,” said Todd Stern via a press release issued by the group.

“Protecting the Amazon will require action by the private sector,” added Bill Reilly. “Our Amazon Protection Plan would create powerful incentives for companies and investors to clean up corporate supply chains, increase transparency, reduce corruption and crime, and finance sustainable development in the Amazon region.”

The plan seeks to calm the political tension that arose out of Brazil after then-candidate Joe Biden proposed putting $20 billion toward Amazon conservation efforts and potentially imposing economic sanctions if the South American nation failed to rein in soaring deforestation. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has a reputation for heated rhetoric, responded to Biden’s comment with an apparent threat to use military force against the United States. Bolsonaro was also among the last of major world leaders to recognize Biden as U.S. president-elect.

“Brazil has always been a major player in global climate cooperation, going back to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit,” said Frank Loy. “President Biden’s Amazon pledge should be seen by Brazil as a hand of a partner extended in respect and friendship. The world needs Brazil to be a green superpower.”

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