Latin America in the Light and Shadows at the Climate Summits

By Marcos Maranges on November 4, 2021

photo: Ricky Wilson

During the past weeks, Latin America has been involved in two critically important events on the global stage: the G-20 Summit in Rome, Italy, and the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-26) in Glasgow Scotland which is still underway. Both meetings are connected, since the first one was a sort of prelude to the second one. Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil attended the G-20 Summit and discussed matters of relevance not only for their own internal and foreign policies but for the region’s agenda as a whole. However, ideological and political backgrounds have meant a difference in their roles. Around 200 countries and 25,000 delegates are attending COP-26.

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez played an active role in the G-20 meeting. He met several counterparts and succeeded by including in the final statement a commitment from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to review its interest rates policy, which is one of the main financial burdens for our developing countries, especially for Argentina. The South American country had to stop paying its foreign debt in 2001, until Nestor Kirchner got the presidency in 2003, who managed to fully honor the country’s commitments to the IMF only three years later.

During Fernandez’s meeting with IMF Director Kristina Georgieva, he stressed that the country will push to re negotiate its current $45 billion debt in order to enhance the economic recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic. This debt is part of the legacy of Mauricio Macri (Argentina’s President from 2015 to 2020), who resumed relations with the IMF and raised the foreign debt of the country up to 46.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), tripling the amount of debt when he entered office.

Fernandez also asked for a reasonable distribution of the Fund’s Special Drawing Right, which, according to him, should go to those in need, instead of increasing some countries’ reserves. This is fundamental for Latin America since, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), it will take the region until 2024 to recover to its pre-pandemic economic performance.

Looking to the COP-26 meeting, Fernandez proposed to the most powerful nations to exchange debt for nature. This is a Latin American proposal since it is impossible for us to pay the unfair foreign debt and to fight against climate change at the same time while suffering the consequences of the inequitable international financial order in a post-pandemic scenario. The initiative calls on the debt’s main creditors to allow developing countries to advance their anti-climate change agendas by using at least 50 percent of the money they should allocate to foreign debt payments.

The strategy seems sustainable and somewhat fair, mostly, because if we take a look at the numbers, Latin American countries have paid their original debts several times, but the high-interest rates keep them paying forever, which is really the cornerstone of the neo liberal model, that is keep poorer countries forever in debt. Debt payments have kidnapped the development of our nations, therefore this exchange mechanism would be at least the first step to repair the damage inflicted during centuries of political and economic colonialism.

On the other hand, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the Rome Summit was a success because migration issues were discussed during the meetings. Mexico tried to introduce the topic at Japan 2019 Summit, but it was denied. This time, the Central American country’s proposal was endorsed by Spain, Turkey, and Germany, countries which are affected by humanitarian and economic migration waves themselves.

Ebrard said that punishing policies and walls would not ease the negative impact of migration. Rather developed countries should seriously commit to fighting against poverty, hunger, and violence, and the only way to achieve it is through investments in the countries where migrants come from. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has implemented a climate-friendly developing agenda, not only for his country but for the rest of Central America. However one big hurdle is that he has not gotten US support yet, something that is essential to make it succeed.

Mexico reminded countries that the commitment to allocate $100 billion per year to fund energy transition projects until 2025 has not been fulfilled, something that puts at risk the goal of limiting the global temperature rise up to 1.5 ºC.

Another important issue defended by Mexico was the need for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for everybody, especially developing countries. This matter found unanimous support among G-20 members, which set the goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the world’s population before the end of 2022. Ebrard took his chance and asked their partners to recognize all World Health Organization (WHO) -approved vaccines and stop any kind of discrimination on this issue. Not doing so would be interpreted as a punishment on developing nations’ citizens for not having access to first-world vaccines, after first-world countries refused to share them for a long time period. Moreover, this attitude undermines the WHO’s authority and verification mechanisms, something that is prejudicial amid this still ongoing pandemic.

The last country taking part in both Summits is Brazil; nevertheless, its President Jair Bolsonaro made clear where his loyalties lie when he himself went to the G-20 Summit, but declined the invitation to Glasgow. Bolsonaro did not show up in public often, and when he did, his security team brutalized some journalists who were trying to report on his participation.

Putting aside this violent event, which perfectly matches his violent speech, Bolsonaro said he will work to end deforestation within the next eight years, something that Indonesia and the Republic of Congo also endorsed during the COP-26.

However, Bolsonaro’s intentions are far from clear ever since he had said something similar before and then let the Amazonian Forest burn for weeks. Instead of reducing the deforestation rate, his administration has been pursuing the opposite. In just the first six months of 2021, deforestation grew by 17.1 percent in the Amazon and 13.6 percent all around the country.

Bolsonaro was recently accused by an Amazonian indigenous leader, who said the government has done nothing to protect the ecosystem that holds 57 percent of the world’s primary forests and 40 to 50 percent of the world’s biodiversity.

Given Bolsonaro’s track record it is difficult to trust his intentions, no matter what he says. Meanwhile in Brazil, people are protesting against his mismanagement of the pandemic and even the Federal Congress issued a report accusing him of crimes against humanity. Based on this, PT candidate Lula has a good chance to win next year’s presidential elections while Bolsonaro is coming up with ways to undermine his rival with the backing of the livestock and timber corporations who are wreaking havoc on the essential Amazon.

Like everything in this world the intervention of Latin America at the complex climate summits had its breakthrough moments of light but many pressing issues for our region remain unanswered and lingering in the current shadows.

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano