As Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was making his way to the United Nations COP27 Climate Change Conference in Egypt last month, representatives of the three countries that possess the majority of the world’s rainforest as measured by surface area announced a new initiative. There in Sharm el-Sheikh, the foreign ministers of Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo unveiled an agreement to work together toward conservation of the forests that are vital to protect the Earth’s biodiversity and guard against an irreversible climate catastrophe.
The plan, as observers noted, had no funding to implement its goals. In fact, it was more of a call to action than a genuine sign of impending progress.
In light of that, the positive reception the initiative received was a sign of how good intentions and grand pronouncements can convey a feeling of achievement even when the hoped-for outcome may or may not materialize.