VZCZCXRO5869
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #1351/01 1990942
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 180942Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9529
INFO RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 0388
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 4778
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 6949
RUEHRC/USDA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRASILIA 001351 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR G 
STATE FOR OES/PCI 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC 
STATE FOR OES/EGC 
USDA FOR FAS WASHDC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TRGY ENRG SENV EAGR ETRD KSCA US BR
SUBJECT: UNDER SECRETARY DOBRIANSKY 'S VISIT TO BRAZIL SPARKS 
DISCUSSIONS ON BIOFUELS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT 
 
REF:  (A) STATE 51101, (B) STATE 51237 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: Under Secretary Dobriansky's visit to Brazil May 
16-17, 2007, not only fulfilled the request by President Bush and 
Brazilian President Lula to elevate the Common Agenda for the 
Environment (CAE) dialogue, but helped the U.S. Mission in Brazil 
move forward on a number of key issues. During the Special Session 
of the CAE, we reached bilateral agreement on the importance of 
studying the environmental impact of biofuels production, clarified 
Brazil's concerns about the U.S. initiative Coalition Against 
Trafficking in Wildlife (CAWT), furthered cooperation on climate 
change, and presented to Brazil draft letters of cooperation for 
future bilateral efforts to reduce mercury in the environment. In a 
meeting with Brazil's Special Secretary for Human Rights, the two 
countries discussed trilateral cooperation with Guinea Bissau and 
the Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Democracies.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Other members of the U.S. delegation who traveled with U/S 
Dobriansky included Drew Nelson, Special Advisor on Climate Change, 
Francis Colsn, Science and Technology Policy Officer, Douglas 
Lawrence, Director of the Office of Resources, USDA. Embassy ESTH 
Counselor Patricia Norman participated, along with Regional HUB 
Director Jimmy Story and USAID Senior Policy Advisor Eric Stoner. 
The Brazilian delegation was lead by Ambassador Everton Vieira 
Vargas, Under Secretary for Political Affairs at Brazil's foreign 
ministry, his deputy Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, 
Director of International Affairs at the Ministry for the 
Environment (MMA) Fernando Lyrio da Silva, Dr. Barbosa Serra, the 
new appointed director for climate change at MMA, Antonio Simes, 
Director of the Office of Energy at the foreign ministry and Gilney 
Amorim Viana, MMA. 
 
¶3. (U) While in Brasilia, the Under Secretary held a meeting with 
Brazil's Minister for the Environment Marina Silva.  She also led 
two events hosted by Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Special 
High-Level Session of the CAE and a Working Session on Human Rights 
and Democracy. 
 
MEETING WITH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER SILVA 
 
¶4. (SBU) Under Secretary Dobriansky, accompanied by Ambassador 
Sobel, other members of the U.S. delegation, ESTH Counselor Norman 
and USAID Advisor Stoner met with Minister Marina Silva, members of 
her staff and the Director of the Office of the Environment at the 
Foreign Ministry on May 16.  Minister Silva explained that 6000 
employees of the Ministry's enforcement division, IBAMA, were on 
strike in opposition to a proposed reorganization. Minister Silva 
explained that IBAMA's  present structure dated back 19 years and 
the number of hectres of parkland and protected areas it manages 
had doubled and in some cases tripled since inception. In order to 
better manage in today's environment, the Minister and President 
Lula had proposed a reorganization that would divide IBAMA's 
authorities among the newly created Chico Mendes Institute and other 
specialized Secretariats. The strike is expected to last until the 
Brazilian Congress votes. 
 
¶5. (U) Under Secretary Dobriansky discussed at length the Minister's 
concerns about CAWT, addressing each in great detail, ending with a 
renewed invitation for Brazil to join. (Brazil's concerns had been 
presented on paper to the Department by its Embassy in Washington 
several weeks prior to this meeting.) Minster Silva expressed 
support for the concept of CAWT and explained the mechanics of 
Brazil's own anti-trafficking campaign which is being implemented in 
partnership with Brazil's foreign ministry. Minister Silva said that 
her Ministry was predisposed to join CAWT. Under Secretary 
Dobriansky stated that should it join, Brazil would be welcomed with 
a rollout and that Minister Silva could speak on these issues 
alongside of Canada, Chile and India. Post is awaiting an official 
response to the invitation to join CAWT. 
 
¶6. (U) Minister Silva spoke briefly on the elements of Brazil's 
proposal for positive incentives for deforestation efforts, 
originally presented at the November, 2006, UNEP meeting. Under 
Secretary Dobriansky suggested a second digital video conference to 
 
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discuss and clarify aspects of Brazil's proposal. On biofuels, both 
the Minister and Under Secretary agreed to the importance of 
studying the environmental impact of biofuel production. Minister 
Silva expressed her negative concerns about moving forward with a 
 
BRASILIA 00001351  002 OF 004 
 
 
Tropical Forest Conservation Act in Brazil, primarily because the 
funds would be available only for NGO use. 
 
¶7. (U) In response to Ambassador Sobel's explanation of the U.S. 
Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (which promotes the use of nuclear 
as clean renewable energy,) Minister Silva said Brazil had so many 
options for renewable energy, she doubted that the move to nuclear 
would ever be necessary.  Under Secretary Dobriansky concluded the 
meeting by renewing the invitation for Brazil to participate in the 
UNEP working group on mercury meeting scheduled for the Fall. 
 
WORKING SESSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY 
 
¶8. (U) The session was led by Under Secretary Dobriansky and 
Ambassador Everton Vargas.  Also attending was U.S. Embassy 
Political Officer Aaron Olsa and Minister Ana Lucy Cabral Peterson, 
Director of the Office of Human Rights and Social Themes at Brazil's 
Foreign Ministry.  Brazil expressed its pleasure with the bilateral 
agreement to support Guinea Bissau signed during the March 30, 2007, 
visit of President Lula to the United States. Noting that this was 
the first such bilateral cooperation in Africa, Ambassador Vargas 
said there are several areas where the United States and Brazil can 
work together as multicultural democracies. 
 
¶9. (U)  U/S Dobriansky commended Brazil's work in Guinea Bissau. 
She pointed out that Mali wants to review the best strategies on 
poverty eradication, noting that a Brazil-Mali partnership would 
offer great potential.  She also noted that a relationship between 
Brazil and Liberia would also be useful because of Brazil's 
experience, stressing issues President Lula put forward previously. 
She reminded Vargas that the OAS will hold a trans-Atlantic 
democracy bridge with African countries to discuss democracy, and 
Brazil's involvement is highly desirable.  Vargas said that Africa 
is a priority in Brazil's foreign policy, and in a recent meeting 
with African leaders, President Lula said Brazil wants to strengthen 
its relationships there.  He noted, however, that Brazil's human and 
financial resources are limited because of its lead role in Haiti. 
 
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE CAE 
 
¶10. (U)  Both countries welcomed this Special Session of the CAE and 
the United States pledged to host the next session of the CAE in the 
United States.  Both countries agreed that the CAE should be run at 
the A/S level with input from the Under Secretary level when 
necessary.  The two countries also pledged to support the technical 
level working group of the CAE in order to pursue additional areas 
of cooperation. 
 
BIOFUELS 
 
¶11. (U) Ambassador Vargas opened with a general discussion of the 
bilateral biofuels partnership and a review of upcoming activities. 
He gave special emphasis to those activities that fall under the 
heading of science and technology, such as the group of Brazilian 
scientists scheduled to visit biofuels research laboratories in the 
United States in August 2007.  The Ambassador said he considered 
biofuels an important foreign policy issue and cooperation should be 
accelerated. Under Secretary Dobriansky emphasized the importance of 
focusing on best practices used to reduce the impact of biofuels 
production on the environment. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Antonio Simes, head of the foreign ministry's division 
on energy,  said Brazil believes that without sustainable 
production, a global market for biofuels will never be reality. 
Simes said Brazil had saved $US 61 billion over the last ten years 
by the use of biofuels instead of petroleum and experienced a 
significant reduction in emissions. Simes repeated the proposal he 
made to DOE A/S Karsner that the United States and Brazil co-sponsor 
a study to scientifically document that the use of biofuels reduces 
emissions. The study should include data from scientists from China, 
the EU, South Africa and India he concluded. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Reference was made by the Brazilians to negative 
statements attributed to specific European leaders concerning the 
conditions under which sugar was produced in Brazil. A discussion 
ensued as to the best way to address that issue. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Ambassador Vargas spoke about the reaction of Brazil's 
private sector to the MOU signed by the foreign ministers during the 
visit of President Bush to Brazil March 8-9, 2007.  Generally, the 
private sector felt that since the tariff on Brazilian exports of 
 
BRASILIA 00001351  003 OF 004 
 
 
ethanol to the United States remained, the impact of the MOU was 
diminished. The Ambassador said that if the United States and Brazil 
hoped in the future to deepen their partnership, there would have to 
be some movement on the tariff issue. 
 
¶15.  (U) The Under Secretary noted that the Global Bioenergy 
Partnership (GBEP) is addressing the issue of best practices and GHG 
methodologies and encouraged Brazil to participate in GBEP.  The 
Under Secretary also noted that the USG will host the Washington 
International Renewable Energy Conference scheduled for March 2008 
in Washington, D.C.  This Ministerial-level meeting was being viewed 
as a follow on to those held in Bonn, Germany. 
 
¶16. (U) Ambassador Vargas reiterated an invitation made by President 
Lula to President Bush during the visit to Camp David (March 31, 
2007), inviting President Bush to Brazil's biofuel conference in 
¶2008. 
 
¶17. (U) Dr. Douglas Lawrence discussed the impact of  biofuels 
development on various aspects of the agricultural market in the 
United States. He outlined efforts by the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture to lessen negative impacts to the environment such as 
finding better ways to process water, reduce the use of chemicals 
and examining the phosphorus problem in grains. 
 
CLIMATE CHANGE 
 
¶18. (SBU) The climate change discussions centered around upcoming 
climate negotiations, the U.S.-Brazil Climate Change Bilateral, and 
work in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to 
address climate change.  Both countries noted their opposition to 
the proposed text in the G8 by the Germans which calls for a cap on 
emissions which would limit climate change to two degrees Celsius. 
Under Secretary Dobriansky invited Brazil to propose a date for the 
next meeting of the U.S./Brazil Climate Change Bilateral.  Brazil 
indicated it would look into dates and follow-up shortly. 
 
¶19. (SBU) The Under Secretary also raised the issue of ICAO's work 
to address greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector. Brazil 
noted its opposition to the EU approach on this issue, and stated 
they have raised their concerns with the EU.  When pressed about 
whether they would be able to send a letter of opposition to the EU, 
Brazil indicated it would look into it.  Their concerns with the 
original letter were focused on the "some developing countries" 
language. Comment: It appears unlikely they will send their own 
letter without significant prodding from the U.S. and others. End 
Comment. 
 
¶20. (SBU) The Brazilians again raised their proposal on avoided 
deforestation and explained it as a template for possible use in 
other areas.  The Brazilians also expressed puzzlement regarding the 
EU's push to launch a timeline for new negotiations at Bali and how 
it would fit in the current processes. 
 
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
 
¶21.  (SBU) The Brazilians indicated their disappointment with the 
results from CSD and stated it  would like to see a stronger UNEP 
and a stronger CSD.  They will be hosting a meeting next September 
to discuss how to move forward on global governance in a way that 
does not continue the polarization of the French proposal for a 
World Environment Organization. 
 
MERCURY 
 
¶22. (U) Under Secretary Dobriansky stated that UNEP would be 
convening a mercury working group later this year and stated that 
the United States would participate.  Referring to the bilateral 
relationship, she said that the United States and Brazil had been 
working informally in a technical collaboration to reduce the use 
and emissions of mercury from various sectors in Brazil.  The Under 
Secretary offered to the Brazilians a draft letter of cooperation to 
 
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formalize future cooperation in this area under the Technical 
Working Group of the CAE. Brazil agreed to have their experts at the 
review the letter. 
 
CAWT 
 
¶23. (U) Under Secretary Dobriansky stated that the United States 
welcomed the GoB comments on CAWT during a previous meeting with 
Environment Minister Marina Silva and interpreted the Minister's 
 
BRASILIA 00001351  004 OF 004 
 
 
comments as indicating that the GoB was prepared to become a member. 
Ambassador Vargas said that the foreign ministry would consult with 
their colleagues at the Ministry of the Environment and communicate 
with the United States at a later date relative to GoB membership. 
 
 
¶24.  (U) Ambassador Vargas formally stated that this and future 
U.S.-Brazil Common Agenda for the Environment meetings would be lead 
at the Under Secretary level but the work could be handled at the 
Assistant Secretary or Office Director level, with political 
guidance from the Under Secretaries. Under Secretary Dobriansky 
agreed and stated that the United States would host the next CAE, 
date to be communicated through the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia. 
 
¶25. (U) This cable was cleared by U/S Dobriansky's delegation prior 
to transmission. 
 
SOBEL