[A-List] Brazil: Lula speaks

["Michael Keaney" <michael011@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Join Brazil in planting oil

Only radical solutions will overcome the energy and environmental crises
while promoting equality

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Tuesday March 7, 2006
The Guardian

The 21st century will be marked by a crucial debate: how can we make
economic and social development compatible with the preservation of our
natural environment?

The challenge is faced by developed and developing countries alike, but
the burdens need to be more equally shared. The width of the divide
between rich and poor countries has doubled over the last 40 years.
While the developed world has benefited from the prosperity generated by
economic progress, poor countries suffer the consequences of
environmental degradation resulting from uncontrolled growth. Rich
countries have unsustainable patterns of production and consumption.
They are responsible for 41% of total carbon dioxide emissions, and
their overall consumption of raw materials is four times greater than
that of all other countries combined. With those conditions, there is no
possibility of a sustainable future.

The scale of Brazil's natural assets is extraordinary: the Amazon region
contains 20% of the planet's fresh water, and almost two-thirds of the
country is still covered by natural vegetation. Against this backdrop we
have been implementing policies that directly address our most pressing
environmental concerns.

When I began my term of office, the rate of deforestation in Brazil had
been increasing by an average of 27% per year. From the second half of
2004 onwards, however, we put measures in place to monitor tree-felling
and to address the issue of land distribution, with the result that the
rate of deforestation has fallen dramatically. In a country that suffers
from profound social inequalities, however, the success of environmental
policy ultimately depends more than anything on economic and social
measures that are themselves geared towards the preservation of our
environment.

Over the next 10 years we will place an additional 13m hectares of the
Amazon region under a management regime that will guarantee the forest's
regeneration cycle. And our commitment to a responsible approach extends
well beyond our own territory. It is imperative that we put into
practice the commitments of the Kyoto protocol to combat the potentially
devastating impact of global warming.

In the search for new, sustainable economic models, the international
community is coming to recognise the need for a radical rethink in
relation to the generation of energy, and Brazil is responding by using
clean, renewable, alternative energy sources to an ever-greater extent.
More than 40% of Brazil's energy comes from "green" sources, in
comparison with around 7% in rich countries.

The ethanol Brazil produces from sugar cane is attracting worldwide
interest, for it is one of the cheapest and most dependable types of
fuel derived from renewable sources. Three-quarters of the cars now
being produced in Brazil have "flex-fuel" engines, capable of running on
either ethanol or petrol, or any mixture of the two.

The government has implemented environmental initiatives that are also
bringing social benefits - for example in the form of the biodiesel
project. Produced from oil-bearing plants, biodiesel is significantly
less polluting than conventional petroleum-based diesel. As it can
easily be produced by small farmers in some of the poorest regions of
the country, the project combines environmental protection with rural
development, and reduces social inequality. There is a great potential
for biodiesel in Africa.

Brazil is actively preparing itself for a new development paradigm that
will meet the environmental and social challenges of the coming decades.
Ethanol and biodiesel are the key components of our approach, and we are
determined to "plant the oil of the future". I invite you to join us in
our endeavours.

· Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of Brazil.


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