On the first trip of a sitting American president to the Amazon, President Biden promised new financial help to protect the rainforest on Sunday—an eleventh-hour effort to fight climate change before he turns the presidency over to Donald Trump. The Amazon rainforest is critical in regulating Earth's climate by lowering temperatures, generating rainfall, and storing great amounts of planet-warming gases. "It's often said that the Amazon is the lungs of the world," Biden said in Manaus, a Brazilian city in the rainforest, the New York Times reports. "But in my view, our forest and national wonders are the heart and soul of the world."
Biden first flew over part of the Amazon in a helicopter, seeing pronounced erosion, ships grounded in the Negro River tributary, and fire damage, as well as a wildlife refuge. He was accompanied by Carlos Nobre, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and expert on how climate change is harming the Amazon, per the AP. The rainforest's destruction traces to decades of razing and burning to create space for cattle ranches and soy farms. Not only has carbon been released through the process, but the rainforest's ability to capture it has been reduced. The US is among more than 140 countries that have pledged to end deforestation by 2030.
The Biden administration last year announced $500 million over five years for the effort. But Congress resisted, and Brazil has received only 10% of that amount. The White House announced on Sunday that another $50 million will be added. Trump has called climate change a hoax and promised to end certain environmental regulations. Brazil's president has asked that Trump "think like an inhabitant of Planet Earth" when setting such policies. A former Brazilian environmental protection official said Sunday that Biden's visit "shows a personal commitment from the president" that probably won't result in concrete results, per the AP. Suely Araújo said she doubts that the US will send a "single penny" to the Amazon Fund once Donald Trump takes office. (More President Biden stories.)
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