Brazil reiterates support for Paris climate agreement

RIO DE JANEIRO – President Michel Temer is reiterating Brazil’s support for the Paris climate agreement.

Temer said during a ceremony Monday that climate change was “a real problem” that had to be tackled.

In his words, the effects of climate change “have already been felt in the world and in Brazil.”

Temer last September ratified Brazil’s participation in the accord that includes drastically reducing carbon emissions over the next decades. Brazil is home to the Amazon rain forest.

Despite the public commitment, many environmental groups argue that policy changes being pushed by Temer’s government will damage the environment in Latin America’s largest nation. They include opening up more land to logging and mining.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that America was pulling out of the Paris agreement.