ENVIRONMENT: Green Issues Govern Brazil-Germany Ties

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 15 2002 (IPS) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s visit to Brazil, which ended Thursday, confirmed that environmental questions are the key factor in the alliance between the two countries.

Germany has been “the biggest and best” contributor to the Pilot Programme to Conserve the Brazilian Rain Forest (PPG-7), created in 1992 by the Group of Seven (G-7) most industrialised countries, said Marcelo Jardim, the head of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry’s Department of Europe.

During Schroeder’s two-day visit, a new donation to the PPG-7 of 65 million euros (56.5 million dollars) was confirmed.

Germany stands out for its “ongoing dedication” to the PPG-7, which is financed by the G-7, the World Bank and the Brazilian government and is aimed at curtailing the destruction of forests in Brazil – mainly the Amazon jungle – and working towards their recovery, said Jardim.

A joint Brazilian-German Plan of Action unveiled Thursday in Brasilia underlines the determination of the two governments to join together in enforcing the Kyoto Protocol – which sets targets for the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming – and in working towards other environmental goals.

The Kyoto Protocol, one of the concrete results of the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, sustained a heavy blow when the United States, which accounts for one-fourth of all greenhouse gas emissions, announced that it was pulling out of the agreement.

Brazil has played a leading role in the climate change talks, pushing the ultimately successful argument that it was up to industrialised countries to make the first efforts to curb global warming, since they were initially responsible for the problem, given the fact that many gases remain in the atmosphere for more than 100 years.

This country of 170 million has also been one of the main promoters of the Clean Development Mechanism, by which part of the emissions reduction targets can be met by financing environmental projects in developing countries – one way to transfer funds from rich countries to poor countries.

After being the target of harsh criticism for the high number of forest fires sweeping the Amazon jungle in the 1980s and early 1990s, Brazil is working hard at building an image as a leading player on the environmental front, based on the fact that it has the largest forest reserves and the greatest biodiversity in the world, and on the active role it plays in international fora.

Germany has also assumed a leadership role on environmental issues, which have been placed high on its list of priorities. In fact, the Green Party forms part of the governing coalition.

Germany’s development aid ministry has already shelled out around 250 million dollars for environmental projects in Brazil, especially in the areas of sanitation, waste management and disposal, and clean technologies, according to the Brazil-Germany Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CICBA).

CICBA promotes cooperation and investment on the environment, publishes studies on the environmental market of Brazil and the rest of Latin America, organises special fairs, and awards the Von Martius Prize for exemplary sustainable development projects.

Business leaders accompanying Schroeder to Brazil announced major investments in this country, which could amount to 7.7 billion dollars over the next four years, a large part of which will go towards the energy sector, reported CICBA.

German companies already stand out as suppliers of equipment for Brazil’s hydroelectric plants, which provide nearly 90 percent of the energy consumed in Latin America’s giant.

But “now is the time” to invest in alternative sources of energy, especially wind power, said Schroeder during meetings held Wednesday in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city.

Germany is a leading generator of wind power. One of its companies, Enercom, has supplied equipment for wind energy plants that have begun to mushroom in the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará.

The energy crisis plaguing Brazil since May, the result of a lack of investment in the sector and severe drought that has reduced the level of water in the dams and reservoirs to extremely low levels, has brought home the need to diversify the country’s sources of energy.

Experts say that harnessing wind power could generate twice the country’s present energy-producing capacity.

Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin emphasised the subject of wind energy in his meeting with Schroeder and the German business representatives.

Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most industrialised state, has no more rivers to tap to expand the generation of electricity, which means it must look to alternative sources, he observed.

However, the best alternative is not wind power, but biomass, because Sao Paulo is the leading sugar cane producing state, added Alckmin, who is seeking German investment in that undertaking.

The use of sugar cane could generate up to 12,000 megawatts of energy, or around 17 percent of the country’s current capacity for electricity generation, according to the Union of the Sugar Cane Industry, which represents businesses in Sao Paulo.