Biden to visit Manaus, engage with local and indigenous leaders

9/11/2024 6:12

        Joe Biden will become the
        first sitting U.S. president to visit the Brazilian Amazon when
        he travels to Manaus later this month, a symbolic trip given the
        United States is likely to see a dramatic change in climate
        policy under President-elect Donald Trump.
        
        The White House confirmed late on Thursday that Biden had
        included a visit to Manaus, a city of 2 million people in the
        heart of the world's largest rainforest, to his South American
        tour of Brazil and Peru between Nov. 14 and 19.
        
        Reuters had first reported last month that Biden was
        expected to make it to the rainforest ahead of a G20 summit in
        Rio de Janeiro, where he will meet with Brazilian counterpart
        Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
        
        "In Manaus, President Biden will visit the Amazon rainforest
        to engage with local, indigenous, and other leaders working to
        preserve and protect this critical ecosystem," the White House
        said in a statement.
        
        Scientists consider the Amazon's protection vital to curbing
        climate change because of the vast amount of climate-warming
        carbon dioxide its trees absorb. Leftist Lula has pledged to end
        deforestation in the area by 2030.
        
        Biden and Lula have seen eye to eye when it comes to climate
        policy. The Democrat last year pledged to request $500 million
        from the U.S. Congress to support the Brazilian-administered
        Amazon Fund.
        
        Things, however, should change dramatically when Trump
        returns to power in January. The Republican has called climate
        change a hoax and said he plans to withdraw the U.S. from the
        landmark 2015 Paris Agreement on climate.
        
        Trump's policies are seen as closer to those of Brazil's
        former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been called
        "Trump of the tropics" and rolled back environmental protections
        during his 2019-2022 term.
        
        Lula earlier this week congratulated Trump on his victory
        and said the world needed "dialogue and joint work". He later
        had a call with Biden to discuss the U.S. leader's trip to
        Brazil.
        
        "Lula reiterated his friendship and admiration for President
        Biden and highlighted the strong state of Brazil-U.S. relations
        in recent years," Lula's office said.
        
        "They both highlighted the closeness of priorities between
        the two governments on promoting the energy transition."
        
        Biden's visit to the Amazon follows a similar trip by French
        President Emmanuel Macron, who was in the rainforest in March.
        Brazil will host the COP30 climate summit in Belem next year.