Senate President Davi Alcolumbre stated during a dialogue between government and civil society representatives at COP25 that he will not accept a setback in Brazilian environmental policy. "The Brazilian parliament made a commitment, and I will keep Congress' word. We will not accept a setback in environmental policy. We have been fighting for the federative pact, which aims to decentralize public resources and ensure they reach states and municipalities. Responsibilities have already been decentralized; we want resources to be decentralized as well."
Alcolumbre advocated for valuing forest environmental assets as a way to aid conservation. "We need to price the value of standing forests. India, Brazil, and South Africa are fighting to establish offsets as a response to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (which provides for the creation of a carbon market). Once we can price them, we'll be able to identify the best paths for offsets."
Environment Minister Ricardo Salles highlighted the bioeconomy as one way to generate added value for the Brazilian forest, raise the standard of living for people and local communities, and reconcile conservation and economics. "We are at the COP seeking to monetize our environmental resources to provide payment for environmental services. We found a formula, within Article 6, in which the largest emitters take responsibility for their emissions and provide resources for the maintenance and conservation of standing forests," he stated.
