On September 22, 2019, high-level political leaders joined private sector actors, civil society, and indigenous peoples to answer the call to action raised by the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF). As part of New York Climate Week, the Global Platform for the NYDF celebrated its 5-year anniversary with a high-level leadership event focused on finding solutions to accelerate implementation of the NYDF goal: End deforestation by 2030. Acknowledging that the world is not currently on track to meet this 2030 target, the objectives of the NYDF event were to take stock of the progress and challenges faced to date, explore emerging solutions and innovative actions with high-level leaders, and foster an ambitious multi-stakeholder platform for collaboration to increase action.
The following statement was delivered during the NYDF Event by the Governors of the GCF Task Force member states Acre, Amapá, Amazonas and Mato Grosso (Brazil).
The Governors of Acre, Amápa, Amazonas, and Mato Grosso (Brazil) join together at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. From left to right: Antônio Waldez Góes da Silva (Amapá), Wilson Miranda Lima (Amazonas), Gladson de Lima Cameli (Acre), and Mauro Mendes (Mato Grosso).
States of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas and Mato Grosso Statement at New York Climate Week
As the Amazonian States of Brazil, Members of the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force, and on behalf of the Interstate Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Legal Amazon, aware of the relevance and projection of the deliberations that will be held at this meeting, of the inputs it may generate for the Climate Action Summit led by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the opportunities that can be built and consolidated at the jurisdictional level for an effective and broader climate action within the framework of global agreements and commitments, we declare the following:
1. We are facing significant challenges in combating deforestation and forest fires. The data and information available indicate that, although these are cyclical events that recur every year, in 2019 they are happening intensively, requiring extra attention. We have taken the necessary measures to this end, in accordance with local circumstances and States’ particularities, and we have been working together with the Federal Government to combat illegality and forest fires.
2. The conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, including water resources, plays a key role in climate regulation and the provision of ecosystem services necessary for the development of local populations, our States, the Region, and the Country. Deforestation and Forest fires directly and primarily affect our populations.
3. Solutions that must be built to face deforestation and forest fires are not simple, they demand that sub-regional particularities be taken into account and require an integrated approach. The command and control efforts alone are not enough, even if performed more intensely.
4. Measures for the long-term and sustainable fight against deforestation and forest fires necessarily involve the adoption of a new model of economic development in the region, based on the effective appreciation of natural assets and the generation of direct benefits in the socioeconomic conditions of its population. Besides protecting the forests, conditions must be created to uplift the rates of region human development, which today are among the lowest in the country and also in the world.
5. The development and consolidation of the green economy must be the central axes of this new model. In this model, the economic dynamics will act to maintain the standing forest and the conservation of biodiversity, as already observed in pilot projects in the states of the Amazon Region. For this purpose, sufficient and appropriate flows of investment, financing and non-repayable financing are required.
6. We are aware that it is not possible to move forward on this agenda by acting alone and it will only be possible to achieve effective solutions if they are built on solid partnerships as a foundation, specifically:
-
Business partnerships as one of the bases for the consolidation of the green economy based on sustainable, innovative and inclusive economic activities. To this end, we reiterate our commitment to improve the enable environment and the corresponding legal certainty.
-
Technical partnerships, intensifying knowledge management, intraregional, interregional, international cooperation and integrated approach with distinct levels of Government in the Country, incorporating the lessons learned and contributing to the intensification of scientific and technological development, applied with a focus on innovation.
-
Internal strategic partnerships, strengthening the dialogue and the participatory building of solutions with traditional populations, the private sector, civil society, and different levels of Government.
-
External Strategic Partnerships, working together with the GCF Task Force Jurisdiction Leaders, building sustainable and scalable solutions to create initiatives for low-emission development such as the California Standard for Tropical Forests, the Cooperation Programs we have with Germany and Norway and empowering the mechanisms developed in the States to attract investments, paying for environmental services and results-based payments.
7. We highlight the efforts of the States of the Amazon of Brazil, members of the Interstate Consortium of the Legal Amazon, that have recently approved the 2019-2030 Strategic Plan, which sets priorities for action towards a competitive, integrated, sustainable and low-emission economy. The Consortium has allowed us to overhaul the policy guidelines to face the challenges and obstacles that have been limiting the region’s full development for decades, requiring us to create integrated solutions to overcome them.
Reaffirming our commitments to the conservation and sustainable use of our region, by current and future generations and to our region’s contribution to climate balance, we encourage the international community to support and participate with us in this effort.
New York, September 2019
Signed:
Gladson de Lima Cameli, Governor of the State of Acre
Antônio Waldez Góes da Silva, Governor of the State of Amapá
Wilson Miranda Lima, Governor of the State of Amazonas
Mauro Mendes, Governor of the State of Mato Grosso
