Brazil won’t endorse global deforestation initiative

Brazil won’t endorse global deforestation initiative
Brazil won’t endorse global deforestation initiative

Brazil won’t endorse global deforestation initiative

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At the UN Climate Summit, 27 countries signed on to a plan to curb deforestation, including Canada, the U.S., and the European Union. Brazil, however says it will not sign on to the plan, claiming it was not consulted in the process. Charles McNeill, a senior environmental policy director with the U.N. Development Program, told the Associated Press, “There was no desire to exclude Brazil. They are the most important country in this area. An effort that involves Brazil is much more powerful and impactful than one that doesn’t.” Christian Poirier is the Brazil-Europe Advocacy Director for the NGO Amazon Watch. He says Brazil’s decision reject the plan stems from political ties between the agriculture industry and President Dilma Rousseff’s reelection campaign. (photo: Brazil’s Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira gives a press conference on deforestation in the Amazon in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres))