At G20, Mexico proposes allocating 1% of military spending to reforestation program

MEXICO CITY

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed allocating 1% of global military spending to fund the "largest reforestation program in history" during the G20 summit in Brazil on Monday.

"The proposal is to establish a fund to allocate 1% of our countries' military spending to carry out the largest reforestation program in history. This would mean freeing up about 24 billion dollars per year," Sheinbaum said in Rio de Janeiro.

Sworn in as president on Oct. 1, Sheinbaum used her G20 debut to return Mexico to the global stage, advocating a multi-billion-dollar program to combat climate change and poverty.

Her plan aims to support 6 million tree planters to reforest 15 million hectares—an area four times the size of Denmark or 30% of Sweden's landmass.

"With this, we would help mitigate global warming and restore social fabric by helping communities rise out of poverty. The proposal is to stop sowing wars, let's sow peace, and let's sow life," said Sheinbaum.

She highlighted that the proposed $24 billion is 12 times Mexico’s current allocation for its "Sowing Life" program, a reforestation initiative aimed at curbing migration by employing laborers to plant fruit and timber trees.

Since its launch six years ago, "Sowing Life" has resulted in the planting of 1.1 million hectares and nearly 1.3 billion trees of over 600 species, according to government figures.

A revered environmental scientist, Sheinbaum has a longstanding career in studying climate change, including two reports on the matter for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won a Nobel prize in 2007 for its study on man-made climate change.

On her first international trip as president, Sheinbaum also met with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the summit. The two leaders agreed to collaborate on water, health, infrastructure, and gender equality initiatives.

The Mexican president arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.