Meio Ambiente

On Monday (April 19th), the Secretary for Climate Change and Environmental Quality at the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, Branca Americano, attends the second day of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), which happens in Washington DC (United States). The event gathers representatives from 17 countries.

The meeting is organized by the U.S. government and intends to complement the discussions of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. It is expected that the debate will facilitate the negotiations during the upcoming UN Conference, scheduled for the end of the year in Mexico. The goal is to avoid the same difficulties of the last Conference held in Copenhagen (Denmark) in late 2009, when the negotiation process was never completed.

Another important issue discussed in the MEF, according to Branca Americano, is the willingness of developed countries to contribute to funding adaptation and mitigation measures, particularly in the area of energy.

The following countries participate in the MEF: Australia, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa South, United Kingdom and the United States, besides Brazil.

BASIC - Next week, another group of countries will meet. The ministers of the Environment of Brazil, South Africa, India and China - which form a group called BASIC - gather in Cape Town, South Africa. On this occasion, Branca Americano and the minister Izabella Teixeira plan to advance the dialogue on various issues of common interest.