Roundup: Latin America pledges to push for sustainable development at climate summit

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MEXICO CITY, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Latin American leaders attending the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate on Thursday pledged to join the global efforts to address climate change with their countries' respective contributions.

During the summit hosted by the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico agreed to recognize the importance of maintaining a healthy environment and the urgent need to stop the destruction of the planet, resonating with China's proposal that the world needs to build "a community of life for man and nature" through "unprecedented ambition and action."

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez reaffirmed the South American country's commitment to the Paris Agreement and vowed to promote renewable energy to tackle climate change.

"Argentina has put climate and environmental action at the center of its convictions," Fernandez said in his virtual speech to the summit.

Argentina is committed to "developing 30 percent of its national energy matrix through renewable energy," and to promoting "efficiency measures for industry, transportation and construction," he said.

His Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera said that Chile, though a small country, is determined to make a relevant contribution to the fight against climate change.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is not the only threat facing humanity today. Climate change has not been quarantined, but has continued to advance at a speed that urges us to take action today, so that humanity can have a future," Pinera said.

Chile aims to contribute to the cause with green hydrogen, which can be produced from water and renewable energy, with the goal of becoming the world's leading producer of the fuel by 2050, and even seeing it overtake copper, currently the export product that sustains the Chilean economy.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro pledged to adopt measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, saying Brazil has "one of the cleanest power matrixes, with renewed investments in solar, wind, hydraulic and biomass energy."

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador unveiled his country's plan to address environmental degradation in Central America as a way to improve the lives of local communities there and stem mass immigration.

In his speech, Lopez Obrador proposed U.S. President Joe Biden finance the plan, known as "Sembrando Vida" or "Planting Life," in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, saying it requires an annual investment of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars.

"Sembrando Vida" essentially entails offering small farmers the resources to plant fruit and timber trees to earn a livelihood, enabling them to remain in their place of origin instead of migrating northwards in search of work.

"The migratory phenomenon ... is not resolved with coercive measures, but with justice and well-being," said Lopez Obrador. Enditem

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