This Monday, November 18, from the Group of 20 Leaders Summit (G-20) taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaumproposed sowing peace and life, instead of wars, by allocating 1% of military spending to launch the largest reforestation program in history.
In his participation in the First Work Session “Fight against hunger and poverty“Laudia Sheinbaum said that “The proposal is to establish a fund to allocate 1% of our countries’ military spending to carry out the largest reforestation program in history. It would mean releasing about 24 billion dollars a year (12 times what Mexico already spends) to support 6 million tree planters who would reforest 15 million hectaressomething like four times the area of Denmark, the entire area of Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador combined, or 30% that of Sweden.”
He added that “With this, we would help mitigate global warming and restore the social fabric, helping communities escape poverty. The proposal is to stop sowing wars, let’s sow peace and sow life.”
The President of Mexico said that as an example that with reforestation and support for planters important changes are achieved, she explained that in Mexico the “Sembrando Vida” program is currently being implemented, one of the most ambitious in the world. Government of Mexicowhich seeks to provide support to poor families in the countryside, technical training to plant timber and fruit trees, as well as other crops.
Sheinbaum specified that this support, to which 1,700 million dollars are allocated each year, benefits 439 thousand Mexican families and 40 thousand in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which allows the reforestation In the last six years more than one million hectares have been planted with the planting of 1.1 billion trees, which is equivalent to capturing 30 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually.
The Mexican President highlighted that in the name of a generous, supportive and wise people, she assists the G20 in calling on great nations to build peace, fraternity and equality.
He questioned his participation, “What is happening in our world that in just two years spending on weapons grew almost triple that of the world economy? How is it that the economy of destruction reached a spending of more than 2.4 trillion dollars? How is it that 700 million people in the world still live below the poverty line?”
He said that: “It is absurd, nonsensical, that there is more spending on weapons than to address poverty or climate change. We would reduce migration and hunger, if we only elevated the word love above hate, the generosity of the humble and dispossessed person, above greed and the desire for domination. “I refuse to think that we are capable of creating artificial intelligence and incapable of giving a hand to those who were left behind.”
Sheinbaum recalled that since 2018, Mexico has been building a new course thanks to the thought of Mexican Humanism, the Moral Economy model and the maximum principle of Shared Prosperity that is framed in “for the good of all, first poor”, with the which leaves the neoliberal dogma in the past based on the fact that the market solves everything.
He explained that, of the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)Mexico is one of the least indebted, with the lowest unemployment rate and where the minimum wage more than doubled in six years; Education and public health are strengthened as rights and 80% of families receive direct support. In addition, the historical record of foreign direct investment and reserves of the Bank of Mexico is recorded.
He highlighted that “Trains, roads, ports and airports are being built, poverty was reduced by more than 9 million people and inequalities are decreasing. There is democracy, freedoms, plurality and the right to dissent, security and justice institutions are strengthened and peace is built.”
Before the representatives of the member countries of the G20, She reiterated that by becoming, six weeks ago, the first female President of Mexico, Mexican women also reached the highest position in the nation.
President Sheinbaum highlighted that: “I had the great honor of becoming the first woman President of my country and I did not arrive alone, the peasants, the migrants, the workers, the professionals, our grandmothers, our daughters and our granddaughters arrived, we all arrived. Mexican women”.
The Mexican President pointed out that she belongs to a generation that fought against repression, authoritarianism, for social justice and democracy, and that she comes from a great people that decided to found, through peaceful means, a new history.
OF