Lula and Silva Address Climate After Brazil Floods

One month after the beginning of the floods that devastated Rio Grande do Sul, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Environment Minister Marina Silva participated in an event to celebrate World Environment Day.

These decrees encompass measures aimed at conserving wildlife, protecting natural monuments, regulating public forest management, addressing climate change, advising on COP30, promoting mangrove conservation, strategizing bioeconomy, and developing resilient green cities.

The minister participated in an event with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in which a series of agreements were signed, including a pact with the governments of the states that cover the Amazon and Pantanal to prevent and combat fires.

After the rains that caused devastating floods last month in southern Brazil, that region and environmental refugees such as the Amazon or the Pantanal will have to face a "severe" drought, Environment Minister Marina Silva warned.

"What we are seeing with the rains we are going to see with the drought, probably in the Amazon and the Pantanal," Silva said during a press conference at the Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia.

The minister explained that a "mixture" of natural phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña and the "potentialization of climate change" are causing these extreme events also in Caatinga (semi-arid region of the northeast), and in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, which is experiencing the worst climate disaster in its history.

Brazil recorded a record number of forest fires from January to April, with more than 17,000 identified, according to official figures.