Biden makes first presidential visit to the Amazon as incoming Trump administration poses a threat to climate fight

Rio de Janeiro
CNN
 — 

When President Joe Biden labored to burnish his local weather legacy within the Brazilian Amazon on Sunday, the unstated presence of Donald Trump shadowed the historic cease.

A sitting American president had by no means earlier than set foot within the Amazon rainforest, and Biden needed to make use of his presence within the important surroundings to deliver consideration to his efforts curbing carbon emissions and serving to the world guard in opposition to world warming.

Standing on a dust path with lush palms and different foliage behind him, Biden described the combat in opposition to local weather change as a “defining” a part of his presidency.

However he additionally warned future administrations that undoing that work would danger depriving the world of its advantages. With out naming President-elect Trump, who has questioned whether or not local weather change exists and vowed to reverse Biden insurance policies on fuel and oil exploration, Biden delivered a transparent message to the nation as he prepares to make manner for the incoming Republican president.

“I’ll go away my successor and my nation a robust basis to construct on in the event that they select to take action. It’s true, some could search to disclaim or delay the clear vitality revolution that’s underway in America. However no one, no one can reverse it. No one,” Biden mentioned in remarks from Manaus, Brazil.

“Not when so many individuals no matter occasion or politics are having fun with its advantages. Not when international locations world wide are harnessing the clear vitality revolution to tug forward themselves. The query now could be: Which authorities will stand in the best way and which can seize the large financial alternative?” he continued.

Earlier than he spoke, Biden considered dried-up river beds and wildfire injury on an aerial tour of the Amazon rainforest, getting a chook’s-eye view of among the results of a yearslong drought.

The half-hour tour aboard Marine One introduced Biden to the confluence of the Rio Negro and Amazon rivers, the place he noticed ships that had been grounded as a consequence of low water ranges, and over a wildlife protect.

Among the many strikes he introduced Sunday have been tens of hundreds of thousands in US {dollars} directed towards preserving the Amazon, whose timber act as a sponge for enormous quantities of carbon dioxide and which is being threatened by deforestation. And he pledged billions to assist nations bolster resilience in opposition to local weather change.

However whether or not any of the cash makes it out the door will now largely be as much as Trump, who has dismissed local weather change — and who, a day earlier than Biden’s journey, named a fracking business government as his decide for vitality secretary.

Trump has already vowed to withdraw once more from the Paris local weather accord, which Biden entered again into when he took workplace 4 years in the past. Trump and his crew have pledged to ease restrictions on oil and fuel exploration that Biden put in place. And the president-elect has forged a deeply skeptical eye towards overseas help of the kind Biden introduced Sunday.

That dynamic has led to skepticism amongst world leaders gathered for summits in South America this month that any of Biden’s bulletins will final previous January, when he exits the world stage.

The stakes of the Amazon’s destiny may hardly be greater. Other than its function absorbing planet-warming gasses, the rainforest accounts for a significant portion of the world’s biodiversity and is house to Indigenous populations.