Biden will become the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon rainforest

Source: Scripps News/AP

Posted 9:36 AM, Nov 17, 2024


SAO PAULO (AP) — Joe Biden will become the first sitting American president to set foot in the Amazon rainforest during a brief stop Sunday in the Brazilian city of Manaus as the incoming Trump administration seems poised to scale back the U.S. commitment to combating climate change.

The massive Amazon, which is about the size of Australia, stores huge amounts of the world’s carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas driving climate change, even as the world’s largest tropical rainforest is rapidly deforested. Biden is expected to take an aerial tour over part of the Amazon, meet local and indigenous leaders and visit an Amazonian museum as he looks to highlight his commitment to the preservation of the region.

The Biden administration announced plans last year for a $500 million contribution to the Amazon Fund, the most significant international cooperation effort to preserve the rainforest, primarily financed by Norway. So far, the U.S. government said it has provided $50 million, and the White House announced Sunday an additional $50 million contribution to the fund.

"It's significant for a sitting president to visit the Amazon. ... This shows a personal commitment from the president," said Suely Araújo, former head of the Brazilian environmental protection agency and public policy coordinator with the nonprofit Climate Observatory. "That said, we can't expect concrete results from this visit." She doubts that a "single penny" will go to the Amazon Fund once Donald Trump is back in the White House.

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/the-president/biden-will-become-the-first-sitting-us-president-to-visit-the-amazon-rainforest