Brazil, 2007

I congratulate

the Secretary-General on his assumption of such a high

office within the international system. I welcome his

decision to encourage high-level debate on the

extremely grave issue of climate change. It is most

appropriate that that discussion take place here at the

United Nations.

Let us not delude ourselves. If the groundwork of

global development is not rebuilt, the risks of

unprecedented environmental and human catastrophe

will grow. We must overcome the apparently pragmatic

and sophisticated notion which is actually

anachronistic, predatory and senseless that profits

and wealth can grow forever, at any cost. There are

prices that humanity cannot afford to pay at the risk of

destroying the material and spiritual foundations of our

collective existence at the risk of self-destruction.

The preservation of life must prevail over mindless

greed.

The world will not correct its irresponsible

relationship with nature, however, until we change the

way development relates to social justice. If we want to

salvage our common heritage, a new and more

balanced distribution of wealth is needed, both

internationally and within each country. Social equity

is our best weapon against the planet’s degradation.

Each one of us must do our part. It is unacceptable that

the cost of the irresponsibility of a privileged few be

shouldered by the dispossessed of the Earth.

The most highly industrialized countries can and

must set the example. Full compliance with their

commitments under the Kyoto Protocol is

indispensable. That is not enough, however. We need to

set more ambitious goals for 2012 onwards and we

must take strong action to ensure universal accession to

the Protocol. Developing countries must also help in

combating climate change. We need clear national

strategies to hold Governments accountable to their

peoples.

Brazil will soon launch its own national plan to

combat climate change. The Amazon forest is one of

the areas most vulnerable to global warming, but the

threats cover all continents. They range from greater

desertification to the outright disappearance of

territories or even of entire countries lost to rising sea

levels. Brazil has undertaken major efforts to minimize

the impact of climate change. Suffice it to say that, in

recent years, we have halved the rate of deforestation

in the Amazon region.

Results like that should come as no surprise.

Brazil will under no circumstance abdicate either its

sovereignty or its responsibilities in the Amazon. Our

recent achievements derive from an increasing

presence of the Brazilian State in the region, fostering

sustainable development with economic, social,

educational and cultural benefits for its more than

20 million inhabitants.

I am convinced that our experience can enrich

similar endeavours in other countries. In Nairobi,

Brazil proposed the adoption of economic and financial

incentives to reduce deforestation on a global scale. We

must also increase South-South cooperation while

promoting innovative modalities of joint action with

developed countries. That is how we can materialize

the principle of shared but differentiated

responsibilities.

It is very important to adopt an integrated

political approach to the environmental agenda as a

whole. Brazil hosted the United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development the Earth Summit.

We need to review what has been achieved since then,

and set a new course of action. I therefore propose that

we hold a new Conference, in 2012, the “Rio +20”

Conference to be hosted by Brazil.

We will not overcome the terrible impacts of

climate change until humanity changes its patterns of

energy production and consumption. The world

urgently needs to develop a new energy matrix in

which bio-fuels will play a vital role. Bio-fuels

significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With its

increased and more efficient use of ethanol, Brazil has

kept 644 million tons of carbon dioxide from being

emitted into the atmosphere over the past 30 years.

Bio-fuels can be much more than a clean-energy

alternative. Ethanol and bio-diesel can open up

excellent opportunities for over 100 poor and

developing countries in Latin America, Asia and,

especially, Africa. They can enhance energy autonomy,

without costly investments. They can create jobs and

income and promote family farming. They can help

balance trade deficits by reducing imports and

generating surplus exportable crops.

Brazil’s experience over three decades has shown

that bio-fuel production does not affect food security.

Sugarcane crops cover just 1 per cent of the country’s

arable land, and yields continue to rise. People do not

go hungry around the world for lack of food, but rather

for lack of income, which afflicts almost 1 billion men,

women and children.

It is entirely possible to combine bio-fuels with

environmental protection and food production. We will

ensure that bio-fuel production complies with all social

and environmental guarantees. Our Government has

decided to implement a complete agro-ecological

zoning of the country in order to identify farmland best

suited to producing bio-fuels. Brazilian bio-fuels will

reach the world market with a seal of assurance for

their social, labour and environmental quality.

In 2008, Brazil is set to host an international

conference on bio-fuels that will lay the foundations

for wide-ranging global cooperation. I hereby invite all

countries to participate.

Sustainable development is not just an

environmental issue; it is also a social challenge. We

are making Brazil less unequal and more dynamic. The

country is growing again, creating jobs and distributing

income. This time, opportunities are being created for

all. We are paying off a centuries-old social debt, while

at the same time investing heavily in quality education,

science and technology.

We have honoured our commitment to “zero

hunger” by sweeping away that scourge from the lives

of over 45 million people. We achieved the first

Millennium Development Goal 10 years ahead of

schedule, cutting extreme poverty in our country by

more than half. Fighting hunger and poverty should be

the concern of all peoples. A global society held back

by growing income disparities is simply not viable.

There will be no lasting peace if we do not

progressively reduce inequality.

In 2004, we launched the global Action against

Hunger and Poverty. Early results are encouraging,

particularly the creation of the International Drug

Purchase Facility (UNITAID). UNITAID has already

achieved 45-per-cent price cuts in drugs used against

AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis for the poorest

countries of Africa. The time has come for us to give it

a new push. We cannot allow ideas that so mobilized

our countries to fade because of bureaucratic inertia.

However, the final defeat of poverty demands

more than international solidarity. It depends above all

on new economic relations that no longer penalize poor

countries. The Doha Round of the World Trade

Organization should promote a true pact for

development by adopting fair and balanced rules for

international trade. Farm subsidies that make the rich

richer and the poor poorer are no longer acceptable. We

cannot accept agricultural protectionism that

perpetuates dependency and underdevelopment. Brazil

will spare no effort for a successful conclusion of those

negotiations, which must, above all, benefit the poorest

countries.

Building a new international order is no

rhetorical turn of phrase; it is a matter of common

sense. Brazil is proud of its contribution to South

American integration, particularly through the

Common Market of the South. We are working to bring

together peoples and regions. We seek to enhance

political dialogue and economic links with the Arab

world, Africa and Asia, and we do so without

sacrificing our traditional partners. Brazil has set up an

innovative cooperation mechanism with India and

South Africa. Together we are working on specific

projects to help in various countries, including Haiti

and Guinea-Bissau.

We all agree on the need for increased

participation by developing countries in the major

international decision-making bodies, in particular the

Security Council. The time has come to move from

words to action. We appreciate recent proposals by

President Sarkozy to reform the Security Council, with

the inclusion of developing nations. A review of

decision-making processes within international

financial institutions is also required.

The United Nations is our best tool to deal with

today’s international challenges. It is through

multilateral diplomacy that we find the way to

fostering peace and development. Brazil’s role

alongside other Latin America and Caribbean nations

in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti

highlights our efforts to strengthen multilateral

institutions. In Haiti, we are showing that peace and

stability are built with democracy and social

development.

Walking into this building, representatives to the

United Nations can admire a work of art that Brazil

presented to the United Nations 50 years ago. I am

referring to the murals that portray war and peace

painted by a great Brazilian artist, Cândido Portinari.

The suffering so expressively portrayed in the mural

depicting war brings to mind the United Nations

crucial responsibility in containing the risk of armed

conflict. The second mural reminds us that peace is

much more than the absence of war. It evokes well-

being, health and harmonious coexistence with nature.

It calls for social justice, freedom and overcoming the

scourges of hunger and poverty. It is not by mere

chance that those who enter the building face the mural

portraying war, while those who leave see the mural

depicting peace. The artist’s message is simple but

powerful: transforming suffering into hope, and war

into peace, is the essence of the United Nations

mission. Brazil will continue to work to realize those

high expectations.