Colombian President and Scholz Talk Debt Swap for Climate Action
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (L) and Colombian President Gustavo Petro (R). X/ @ELABEJON2
September 23, 2024 Hour: 6:45 am
Gustavo Petro has reiterated the need for rich countries to financially support the protection of the Amazon forests.
On Sunday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro met in New York with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with whom he discussed debt swaps for climate action.
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“With Olaf Scholz, we had a lengthy discussion about what is happening in the Amazon rainforest and the ways to make debt-for-climate swaps a reality,” wrote the South American head of state on his X account.
The Colombian president said that the topic of debt-for-climate action is a “discussion I will delve deeper into at COP16 in Cali and at the G20, the meeting of the world’s 20 most economically important countries, where I have been invited, in Rio de Janeiro.”
Cali, the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, will host COP16, which will take place from October 21 to November 1. So far, the presidents of Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Panama, Honduras, Ghana, Suriname, Mozambique, Haiti, and Guinea-Bissau, as well as the vice presidents of Cuba and Kenya, and 92 environment ministers from around the world, have confirmed their attendance.
The meeting with the German chancellor comes just two days before Petro’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly, where he has consistently emphasized that the planet must take urgent action to address climate change, which threatens the survival of humanity.
Petro has reiterated in various international forums the need for wealthy countries to financially recognize the efforts of nations that have sovereignty over the Amazon to protect the “natural sponge of the planet.”
“This is a global proposal made from Colombia—the public debt-for-climate action swap, which would be the first major leap forward in a true fight against the climate crisis, the main problem facing humanity,” Petro stated on May 30 of last year at a meeting of 11 heads of state in Brasilia, convened by Brazilian President Lula da Silva. Petro is in New York, where on Tuesday he will speak before the United Nations General Assembly on the first day of the 79th session of that organization.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
