Biden becomes first sitting US president to visit Amazon rainforest 

MANAUS, Brazil — 

Joe Biden connected Sunday became the archetypal sitting American president to acceptable ft successful the Amazon rainforest, arsenic the incoming Trump medication seems poised to standard backmost the U.S. committedness to combating clime change.

The monolithic Amazon, which is astir the size of Australia, stores immense amounts of the world's c dioxide, a greenhouse state that drives clime alteration erstwhile it's released into the atmosphere. But improvement is rapidly depleting the world's largest tropical rainforest.

Joined by Carlos Nobre, a Nobel-Prize winning idiosyncratic and adept connected however clime alteration is impacting the Amazon, and Biden clime advisor John Podesta, Biden lifted successful his chopper implicit a agelong of the rainforest, for a bully presumption of the shallowing of waterways, occurrence harm and a wildlife refuge. He was besides getting a peek astatine wherever the Rio Negro and Amazon rivers meet.

Biden volition past conscionable section and indigenous leaders and sojourn an Amazonian depository arsenic helium looks to item his committedness to the preservation of the region.

His medication announced plans past twelvemonth for a $500 cardinal publication to the Amazon Fund, the astir important planetary practice effort to sphere the rainforest, chiefly financed by Norway.

So far, the U.S. authorities said it has provided $50 million, and the White House announced Sunday an further $50 cardinal publication to the fund.

"It's important for a sitting president to sojourn the Amazon. ... This shows a idiosyncratic committedness from the president," said Suely Araújo, erstwhile caput of the Brazilian biology extortion bureau and nationalist argumentation coordinator with the nonprofit Climate Observatory. "That said, we can't expect factual results from this visit."

She doubts that a "single penny" volition spell to the Amazon Fund erstwhile Donald Trump is backmost successful the White House.

The incoming Trump medication is highly improbable to prioritize the Amazon oregon thing related to clime change. The Republican president-elect already said helium would again propulsion retired of the Paris agreement, a planetary pact forged to avert the menace of catastrophic clime change, aft Biden recommitted to the agreement.

Trump has formed clime alteration arsenic a "hoax" and said helium volition destruct vigor ratio regulations by the Biden administration.

Still, the Biden White House connected Sunday announced a bid of caller efforts aimed astatine bolstering the Amazon and stemming the interaction of clime change.

Among the actions is the motorboat of a concern conjugation that looks to spur astatine slightest $10 cardinal successful nationalist and backstage concern for onshore restoration and eco-friendly economical projects by 2030, and a $37.5 cardinal indebtedness to the enactment Mombak Gestora de Recursos Ltda. to enactment the large-scale planting of autochthonal histrion taxon connected degraded grasslands successful Brazil.

Biden is besides acceptable to motion a U.S. proclamation designating Nov. 17 arsenic International Conservation Day, and volition item successful remarks during the sojourn that the U.S. is connected way to scope $11 cardinal successful spending connected planetary clime financing successful 2024, a six-fold summation from erstwhile helium started his term.

The Amazon is location to Indigenous communities and 10% of Earth's biodiversity. It besides regulates moisture crossed South America. About two-thirds of the Amazon lies wrong Brazil, and scientists accidental its devastation poses a catastrophic menace to the planet.

The wood has been suffering 2 years of historical drought that person dried up waterways, isolated thousands of riverine communities and hindered riverine dwellers' quality to fish. It's besides made mode for wildfires that person burned an country larger than Switzerland and choked cities adjacent and acold with smoke.

When Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took bureau past year, helium signaled a displacement successful biology argumentation from his predecessor, far-right Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro prioritized agribusiness enlargement implicit wood extortion and weakened biology agencies, prompting deforestation to surge to a 15-year-high.

Lula has pledged "zero deforestation" by 2030, though his word runs done the extremity of 2026. Forest nonaccomplishment successful Brazil's Amazon dropped by 30.6% successful the 12 months done July from a twelvemonth earlier, bringing deforestation to its lowest level successful 9 years, according to authoritative information released past week.

In that 12-month span, the Amazon mislaid 6,288 quadrate kilometers (2,428 quadrate miles), astir the size of the U.S. authorities of Delaware. But that information fails to seizure the surge of demolition this year, which volition lone beryllium included successful adjacent year's reading.

Despite the occurrence successful curbing Amazon deforestation, Lula's authorities has been criticized by environmentalists for backing projects that could harm the region, specified arsenic paving a road that cuts from an old-growth country and could promote logging, lipid drilling adjacent the rima of the Amazon River and gathering a railway to transport soy to Amazonian ports.

Biden is making the Amazon sojourn arsenic portion of a six-day travel to South America, the archetypal to the continent of his presidency. He traveled from Lima, Peru, wherever helium took portion successful the yearly Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation acme and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

After his halt successful Manaus, helium was heading to Rio de Janeiro for this year's Group of 20 leaders summit.