Brazil to meet deforestation reduction goals 4 years earlier: president

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday that Brazil would fulfill its deforestation reduction commitment four years earlier than expected.

"We will reduce the deforestation by 80 percent by 2016. No country will give such a large contribution to the planet as Brazil," Lula said.

Brazil committed itself to reducing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest region by 80 percent by 2020 at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference last year.

Lula participated in the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change on Tuesday, at which the government defined the proposals to be presented at the 2010 UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, next month.

The president said he didn't expect much to be accomplished at the upcoming conference. Many leaders might not attend the meeting due to lack of a global agreement, but he would be there, Lula said.

Lula also recalled that even though the Copenhagen Conference failed in achieving a global deal on the reduction of carbon emissions, Brazil was committed to reducing its emissions by 38 to 42 percent by 2020.

Source: Xinhua