Marina Silva advocates for a dialogue on the "value of nature" for the global economy

The Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, represented Brazil at the World Economic Forum, concluded this Friday, January 19, in Davos, Switzerland. In her remarks, she advocated for a profound change in how nature should be evaluated in terms of public policy: a focus on the value provided by nature rather than the cost of preserving it.

"Nature has values that we, in our current stage, have often failed to realize. At some point, we will discover that these values exist and that they may be priced," said Marina Silva during one of the Forum's panels last Wednesday (17).

As an example, the Minister mentioned the water production in the Amazon. Every day, Brazil's largest biome evaporates 20 billion tons of water, equivalent to 20 trillion liters, which is dispersed throughout nature and the atmosphere. This phenomenon regulates Latin America's rainfall and impacto approximately 75% of the region's GDP.

"If we were to pump this water, we'd need 50,000 Itaipus. Can you imagine such an investment? Nature accomplishes this simply by using the land, its nutrients, the forest, the sun, and the wind. It is an incalculable ecosystem service," Marina stated.

Ecosystem services will be one of the four priorities of the Environmental and Climate Sustainability Working Group (WG) of the Brazilian G20 presidency, coordinated by Marina Silva's Ministry and Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE). The other topics are preventive and emergency adaptation to extreme climate events, waste and the circular economy and oceans.

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES — Ecosystem services are defined as the benefits that humanity can obtain directly or indirectly from ecosystems. Obtaining wood, regulating the climate or the water cycle are examples of benefits. These natural ecosystems need to be preserved to maintain the quality and functioning of the services.

Human activities (which contribute to the maintenance, recovery or improvement of ecosystem services) are environmental services. Humanity can be responsible for providing environmental services through the management of natural systems. But it cannot perform ecosystem services: these can only be done by nature.

GOALS — In another panel, held on Tuesday with the participation of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Marina commented on the most important environmental goals adopted by the Brazilian and Colombian governments for the Amazon: zero deforestation by 2030, in the case of Brazil, and ending oil and gas extraction, in the case of Colombia.

"Brazil has taken a brave decision on zero deforestation. Colombia has made a decision on zero oil. At some point we'll meet, Colombia will say it's zero deforestation and humanity will have to say it's zero oil," said the minister.

Marina also highlighted the need to discuss the end of incentives to use fossil fuels and mentioned subsidies of US$ 7 trillion for the sector worldwide by 2022. The transition must be led by the industrialized countries, which are most responsible for historical emissions, according to her, in a context where climate finance is still below what is needed.

After four years of setbacks, the resumption of environmental governance and enforcement actions led to a 50% reduction in deforestation in the Amazon in 2023 compared to 2022, according to INPE's Deter system. The drop prevented the emission of approximately 250 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere.

FULL AGENDA — Throughout the Davos World Forum, the minister had several bilateral meetings with representatives of government, international organizations and the private sector, such as the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Simon Stiell, businessman Bill Gates, the secretary-general of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Mathias Cormann, among others. In addition to Marina, the Brazilian delegation in Davos also included the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira.