De Nile doesn't flow thru Brazil.
Brazilian Agriculture Minister Says Human Activity Impacts Global WarmingKatia Abreu Says Action Must Be Taken to Mitigate the Effects of Climate Change
BRASILIA—Brazilian Agriculture Minister Katia Abreu said Thursday that human activity has an impact on climate change, but that more studies are needed.
Ms. Abreu was sworn in as minister earlier this month. In the past, the former senator and head of the country’s most important farm group has supported agricultural policies that provoked strong criticism from environmental groups.
While speaking with reporters Thursday, Ms. Abreu was asked if she believes in global warming. The minister first joked that “with the heat here, you have to believe because it’s not normal.”
It is summer in the southern hemisphere, and major Brazilian cities have been experiencing high temperatures that might have contributed to blackouts earlier this week.
Ms. Abreu then said that global warming is something people need to worry about and that the main causes should be identified.
“Not to accuse anyone, but only to reduce it,” she said.
When asked if she agrees that global warming is caused by human activity, she at first hedged, saying “I don’t have an answer, I don’t have that certainty. I think that it can be a mix, but I don’t have knowledge or studies enough to have a technical opinion.”
She then indicated she does in fact believe humans are at least partly to blame, and said action must be taken to mitigate the effects.
“I think maybe there are two causes. Clearly humans, yes, where there are people there are impacts. There’s no way not to have an impact. There are some impacts that can be minimized, and impacts that are impossible to minimize, for example, areas planted with food, because people need food. They’re impacts that should be compensated” in other areas.
Ms. Abreu was once nicknamed “Miss Deforestation” by Greenpeace because of her support for a law that essentially pardoned some farmers for destroying parts of the Amazon rain forest. Though she still strongly supports efforts to increase Brazil’s agricultural production, she more recently has also praised the country’s program to halt deforestation.
On Thursday, she called the agreement between China and the U.S. to tackle greenhouse-gas emissions, announced last year, a “marvelous surprise” and said those two countries’ acceptance of the reality of global warming is a good sign because “we all need to worry for future generations.”
That opinion differs from many in the U.S., where the Senate voted Wednesday on three amendments to bills regarding the science on climate change. Senators rejected the amendment that clearly stated the scientific consensus on the matter, which is that climate change is real and that human activity contributes significantly.
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