NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- It comes as no surprise that Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kicked off his address at the United Nations General Assembly Monday with a desperate plea for his counterparts to do more to battle climate change. After all, his country is home to the Amazon and air pollution is a significant issue for the South American nation's major cities.
"The Amazon is going through the worst drought in 45 years. Forest fires spreading across the country have already devoured 5 million hectares in August alone,” he told the gathering of world leaders. “My government does not outsource responsibility nor abdicate its sovereignty. We have already done a lot, but we know that much more needs to be done.”
But the Climate Observatory, a group of 30 Brazilian non-profit organizations, slammed Lula and his address, saying in a statement, "the climate leader that the world was waiting for did not show up."
Taking aim at the specifics of Lula's address, the group said, "Climate was just one more topic in a along list of themes addressed by Lula, from the recent conflict in Lebanon to the urgency of regulating artificial intelligence and the long-standing cry for U.N. reform. The president promised to deliver this year a climate goal ... but did not offer a vision of what Brazil aims to do as chair of the COP 30 to accelerate the fight against this crisis."
Still, Lula said last week that anyone caught setting forest fires will be slapped with fines up to $1,800 per hectare.
"The planet cannot make demands of the next generation and is fed up with climate deals that are not fulfilled. It is tired of neglected carbon emission reduction goals," he said at UNGA. "Beyond facing the challenge of climate change, we are also fighting those who profit from environmental degradation."