Joe Biden flies off to Amazon rainforest ahead of G20 Leader’s Summit in Rio De Janeiro

Nov 18, 2024

Manaus (Brazil), November 18 (ANI): U.S. President Joe Biden arrived on Sunday (November 17) in Manaus, Brazil, where he took a helicopter to tour the Amazon, becoming the first sitting US President to visit the Amazon rainforest as he flags the dangers of global warming often dismissed by Donald Trump, who enters the White House in January vowing to scrap measures to fight climate change. Biden traveled from Lima, Peru, to Manaus, Brazil to meet with local leaders working to preserve the Amazon, before he flies to Rio de Janeiro for a summit of the Group of 20 major economies addressing issues from hunger and poverty to global governance and climate change. Scientists say conservation of the Amazon is vital to curbing climate change because of the vast amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide its trees absorb. Last year, Biden said he would request $500 million from the U.S. Congress to support the Brazilian-administered Amazon Fund. However, by July the United States had delivered on just a tenth of that pledge.