Historian, writer and political scientist Jorge Caldeira says the old pursuit of developed countries to grow at any cost is losing ground to long-term planning focused on zeroing the carbon bill. According to him, the Brazilian strategic plan follows the opposite path, favoring public spending as a form of development. “This is a method that is no longer applied anywhere on the planet. This is Brazil’s backwardness,” said Caldeira, who will discuss sustainability.
The ninth edition of the Brazil Conference will discuss, this Friday 31 and Saturday 1, the way Brazil faces the challenges of the 21st century. The speakers will discuss topics such as public policies, the economy, technology, democracy and justice.
Organized by the Brazilian student community of Boston (USA), the conference is in collaboration with Stadium, which will cover and transmit the panels. The debates, in attendance, will take place at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), supporters of the event.
Speakers include IDB President Ilan Goldfajn; presenter Luciano Huck; and STF Minister Luís Roberto Barroso. “The question we want to answer is whether Brazil is prepared for the 21st century. What does Brazil need to develop in the best possible way?” said the co-chair of the event, Helena Mello Franco.
Below are the main excerpts from Jorge Caldeira’s interview.
How to turn the forest into a resource in a scenario of mining advancement and deforestation?
The concept of carbon fixation has evolved very rapidly. Progress has been made in the last three years towards organizing the whole (world) economy on the basis of carbon balance. The entire distribution of resources, instead of being “let’s grow GDP”, has become “let’s balance the carbon bill”. Today the European Union, Japan, China, South Korea, the United States and England organize their economy (in this way). Brazil missed these three years, despite being the country that has the greatest potential to fix carbon on the planet, and is now lagging behind.
Can the carbon market actually reduce deforestation?
Carbon credit works: who issues it pays who repairs it. Brazil’s greatest potential is as a carbon sink, which is to grow trees. The country needs to create credible institutions and legal and financial conditions for those who pay to pay for those who have forests. Fixed carbon is a commodity. If the forest is business, things change a lot. Forest conservation will happen when the owner receives money to keep it standing instead of destroying it.
Are carbon credits a way out for economic development even in a recession scenario?
What the Brazilian government needs to do is ensure legitimacy (for this market). The rest is up to the private sector. Domestic recession has little impact, the carbon market is global. Brazil’s GDP can often enter this market if it does things right. The opportunity lies in being the first carbon neutral economy on the planet.
How to ensure a long-term strategic plan in Brazil, if planning has been disrupted due to transitions between rulers in the country?
The old economic goal of big economies to grow more is gone. The European Union doesn’t care how much it has grown, but it wants to be a carbon neutral economy. Brazilian strategic planning is still done in the early 1970s, where the government pools resources, spends and this creates development. This is a method that is no longer applied anywhere on the planet, this is Brazilian backwardness. If you don’t plan for the future, the future won’t come. Brazil has this opportunity not because of the current president, nor for that of the past, but because Brazil fixes five times the emissions of industry on trees. What does the current management say about this? Nothing. The obligation of those who work with the long term is to demonstrate that the long term is feasible.
The information comes from the newspaper The State of São Paulo.
Source: Terra
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