Photo courtesy of World Economic Forum via Flickr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil's new president, has promised to preserve the Amazon forestation.
By Sarah Grinnell ’26
Staff Writer
On Oct. 30, 2022, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was ousted by candidate and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in one of the narrowest races in the country’s history, Bloomberg reported. The election has attracted widespread attention from the environmental community — including lobbyists, politicians and activists — given Bolsonaro’s notorious role in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, International Business Times said. Lula’s election has thus led to tentative hopes for a future of stronger conservation policy in the country.
The Amazon rainforest has suffered greatly during Bolsonaro’s term. According to CNN, the president attracted global scrutiny for allowing deforestation to increase since he first took office in January 2019, ultimately hitting “a 12-year high” between August 2019 and July 2020. NBC reported that the president consistently encouraged agriculture and mining operations and reduced funding for environmental protection agencies. Additionally, Reuters described Bolsonaro’s support of a bill which would allow mining for potash on Indigenous lands. For these reasons, Bolsonaro has been blamed for the increase of forest fires in the Amazon. Between the start of his term in 2019 up to 2021, CNN cites that over 33,800 square kilometers of the rainforest have been lost.
As described in an article from the NASA Earth Observatory, the Amazon rainforest poses “clear significance to the planet.” The article explains that the Amazon basin spans at least six million square kilometers, which, as mentioned by a National Geographic article, comprises half of the world’s tropical forests, and therefore plays an integral role in the offset of greenhouse gasses.
The rainforest has a major function in trapping atmospheric heat, according to the article, as it accounts for one-quarter of all carbon dioxide on Earth that is absorbed by land. However, this amount has dropped by 30 percent since the 1990s due to rapid deforestation. According to CNN, deforestation has led forests such as the Amazon to emit more carbon dioxide than they absorb, with the Rainforest Alliance citing that deforestation makes up roughly 10 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions.
An article in NewsWeek suggests that Lula’s victory could mean the curbing of these trends of environmental harm. The article describes his pledge to “crack down on illegal mining” and reinstitute the Amazon Fund, a “key project supporting the protection of the rainforest” which the Bolsonaro administration had done away with. In fact, Lula was quoted telling CNN Brasil that “there will be no Amazon deforestation” in his government. According to CNN, during Lula’s previous presidency from 2002-2010, “deforestation shrank 65 [percent].” Reuters further reports that he plans to give official “protected status” to half a million square kilometers of the Amazon, as well as “reform Brazil’s tax code” to foster a greener economy.
While the election results are a victory for those wishing to see an end to Bolsonaro’s leadership, a number of challenges still stand in the way of Lula’s mission to recover the Amazon, the Reuters article warned. According to Reuters, Lula’s intended environmental negotiations are expected to face stark opposition by the Brazilian Congress, which is expected to consist mainly of Bolsonaro’s allies in the future. As Bloomberg pointed out, “the fact that Lula won by the narrowest margin in the country’s history shows the deep well of conservative values that pervades Brazilian society.”
“The fact that Lula won by the narrowest margin in the country’s history shows the deep well of conservative values that pervades Brazilian society.”
Bloomberg says that even despite his loss, Bolsonaro’s “brand of right-wing identity politics is now deeply anchored in Brazil.” There is reason to believe Lula will have difficulty gaining public favor within certain blocs of voters, mainly including the miners and loggers who benefitted from Bolsonaro’s lax environmental policy, who say their “support here is totally with President Bolsonaro,” Al Jazeera reported.
In his acceptance speech, the newly-elected president said, “when we cut down an ancient tree, we cut down a part of our own lives. My government will stop the destruction of Amazon entirely. With us, it is safe forever.”
If he can make negotiations with Brazil’s congress and follow through on these pledges, political leaders believe Lula will “give new hope for the Amazonian and global environment,” Time reported.