Karina Custódio*
The implementation of a plan to end fossil fuels could be decisive in protecting the Amazon, agricultural production and food security, say researchers from IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute).
Defended by the Brazilian government at COP30 (30th Conference of the Parties), the road map for the end of fossil fuels won the support of 82 countries despite not being on the agenda of the Conference’s official negotiations.
“Brazil has been working to move the road map from informal talks to official negotiations. These moves and the international support are very welcome. The implementation of a transition away from fossil fuels is essential to prevent temperatures from rising further and to ensure that forests, agricultural production and food security are no longer threatened by climate change,” says André Guimarães, executive director of IPAM and special envoy of the COP30 presidency for civil society.
André Guimarães at the International Forum on Family Farming and Traditional Communities, held at Agrizone. Photo: Lucas Guaraldo/IPAM
Agricultural production
Ludmila Rattis, a researcher at IPAM, studies the relationship between the forest, farming and climate change. She explains why the transition away from fossil fuels is important for Brazil and the world.
Ludmilla Rattis at the event: Regenerative Tropical Agriculture: A Brazilian Response to the Climate Crisis and Global Food Security, at COP30. Photo: Suellen Nunes/IPAM
“The road map for ending the use of fossil fuels is essential for us to continue producing food in the future, because there are limits to the adaptation of agriculture to the new climate conditions and also to mitigation, because if the temperature continues to rise there will be no alternatives left for the agricultural system,” he points out.
“Even if we make use of all the technology we have available today to adapt agriculture to the conditions imposed by climate change, we won’t be able to solve everything unless there is a transition away from fossil fuels. In the Midwest, 35% of farms are already outside the climate ideal and by 2060 it will be 70%. These results are part of a study that considers global climate change, caused mainly by fossil fuel emissions. So there’s no solution for agriculture if we don’t phase out fossil fuels”.
Alternative to oil
Paulo Moutinho at a COP30 side event: “TransCerrado: a scientific bicycle expedition for the preservation of the Cerrado”, held at Casa Balaio. Photo: Carol Rosignoli/IPAM
IPAM also warns that the continuation of the exploitation of the Foz do Amazonas, following the license granted by Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), requires more dialogue with civil society and forest peoples, as well as greater transparency. The Institute has shown in a scientific publication that oil royalties do not generate the expected human development and has proposed green royalties as a safe alternative for economic development, populations and the environment.
“Going ahead with oil exploration, especially in the Amazon, is a tremendous contradiction in terms. We need to remember that oil is fossil carbon. Until it is exploited, it is not in the biosphere. Increasing fossil fuel emissions will be the fastest way to end life on the planet and the forests we have left. It’s as simple as that. What’s more, thinking that protecting forests or reducing emissions from deforestation can compensate for oil emissions, as has been proposed, is akin to treating alcoholism with whiskey. We need to preserve forests in a world free of fossil fuels,” says Paulo Moutinho, senior researcher at IPAM.
IPAM journalist, karina.sousa@ipam.org.br*