Prime Minister Luís Montenegro emphasized on Thursday the commitment to consolidate a strategy that combines environmental conservation and climate resilience through enhancing ecosystem services, promoting biodiversity, and preventing fires. This statement was made at the COP30 climate summit held in Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon.
“Our forest ecosystems face a number of challenges, including the risk of fire, which compel us to act,” he added.
In the “Call to Action on Integrated Fire Management and Resilience to Wildfires” commitment, signatories recognize that fires are among the most dramatic manifestations of climate change, affecting all states equally, and pose a challenge that “no country can face alone.”
“It is this awareness and purpose of action that leads us to confirm today [Thursday] our subscription to this commitment,” stated the Portuguese Prime Minister.
In this regard, countries committed to “promote a shift from fire suppression-focused approaches to integrated strategies based on prevention to achieve systemic resilience.”
Practically, this means, for example, investing in firebreaks and regular forest cleaning to prevent fires, rather than focusing solely on the purchase of planes to extinguish them.
In addition, they agreed to strengthen international cooperation to prevent, combat, and recover from fires that have severely impacted countries like Portugal, Bolivia, the United States, Brazil, Spain, and Greece in recent years.
In this context, they aim to establish a protocol for rapid mutual assistance.
“This includes enhancing cross-border and inter-agency collaboration through the shared use of technologies and best practices,” the declaration adds.
Moreover, they intend to support local populations, such as indigenous peoples, and fight environmental crimes.
Countries supporting the call include Germany, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Spain, Ecuador, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Morocco, Mexico, Panama, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic, Russia, Uruguay, South Korea, and North Korea.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro began a two-day visit to Belém on Thursday to attend the Climate Summit, a gathering of world leaders preceding COP30.
The Climate Summit will convene delegations from 143 countries, of which just over a third will be led by their respective national leaders. The three leaders of the world’s most polluting countries (China, the United States, and India) have confirmed their absence.
Among the leaders who have publicly confirmed their presence are French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
