Manaus: U.S. President Joe Biden made history on Sunday as the first sitting president to visit the Amazon rainforest, highlighting the urgent threats posed by global warming, a concern largely dismissed by President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to roll back climate change measures.
Biden traveled from Lima, Peru, to Manaus, Brazil, the largest city in the Amazon, to meet with local leaders dedicated to preserving the rainforest. Following his visit, Biden was set to attend the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, where global leaders will discuss pressing issues such as poverty, climate change, and global governance.
While in the Amazon, Biden toured the region aboard his Marine One presidential helicopter, taking in the view of the confluence of the Amazon and Rio Negro rivers in Manaus. These areas have been severely impacted by the worst drought in decades, leading to a significant drop in water levels.
Biden was joined by Carlos Nobre, a Brazilian scientist and Nobel Prize winner, who has warned that the Amazon may be at risk of irreparable damage due to extensive deforestation that has altered weather patterns essential for sustaining the jungle’s ecosystem.
The president also visited the Museum of the Amazon in Manaus, where he met with Indigenous leaders who are advocating for stronger protections for the rainforest. During his visit, Biden made a poignant statement: “The world’s forest trees breathe carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and yet each minute, the world is chopping down the equivalent (of) 10 soccer fields worth of forest.”
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Experts agree that the conservation of the Amazon is critical to addressing climate change, given the rainforest’s immense capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has committed to ending deforestation in the Amazon by 2030 and has called on wealthy nations to support this goal through contributions to the Amazon Fund, managed by Brazil’s state development bank. In a bid to support this initiative, Biden announced a new $50 million contribution to the fund, doubling the U.S. commitment to $100 million.
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Despite previous pledges, the U.S. has yet to fulfill its full commitment to the Amazon Fund. Last year, Biden announced a request for $500 million from Congress, but by July, only a fraction of that amount had been delivered. The latest contribution is part of Biden’s broader climate finance strategy, which aims to expand U.S. climate investments to $11 billion annually by the end of his term, a six-fold increase from current levels.
In his remarks, Biden emphasized that his administration’s efforts would leave a strong climate policy for the next president to build upon, should they choose to continue on this path. However, Biden’s climate initiatives could face significant challenges under the incoming Trump administration, which has vowed to dismantle much of Biden’s climate legislation. Trump, who has previously called climate change a “hoax,” plans to cut regulations aimed at reducing carbon emissions and increasing U.S. oil and natural gas production.
