UNEP committee plagued with dispute between France and Brazil

France and Brazil heatedly discuss the Amazon and the use of pesticides.

by Lara Novais

France, and especially the French president, have positioned themselves decidedly against the deforestation of the Brazilian rainforest and policies toward the virgin forest.

During the UNEP (The United Nations Environment Programme) committee meeting on plant health in the UN summit, France accused Brazil of being irresponsible and destructive toward the Amazon and mentioned the Paris Agreement and Brazil’s lack of committment to them. In response the Brazilian delegates argued that, in fact, the French Guiana, which also contains a part of the Amazon, also suffers from deforestation at the hands of France itself. Furthermore, the delagate also mentioned the fact that when put into proportion with the amount of cultivated land Brazil is actually less of a pesticide user than France, citing a study which placed France as the fourth most polluter country and Brazil as the seventh. This conflict culminated with the Brazilian delagate saying “(France) doesn’t show any intentions to act against it (the use of pesticides) simply to act against Brazil itself.”. Though the most intense conflict was between Brazil and France, India also accused France of not being understanding of the country’s situation and saying “ if France is so environmentally minded why don’t they give us some financial aid to improve our use of pesticides.”.

France then answered by questioning both countries on their current data on these matters and accused them of being doctored or not being available to the public.