Or kind of…
It comes to nobody’s surprise that Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency has done no good to prevent the destruction of the world's largest rainforest.
On the contrary, the Amazon forest deforestation soared. As a result, there is hope for the Amazon after Lula's victory in Brazil.
The victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s Brazilian presidential election was greeted with relief by world leaders desperately looking for some good news on climate change. While it was a Brazilian election, it really feels like the entire world is breathing again as the election's result has been widely welcomed by anyone who cares enough about the planet’s future.
As ranchers and loggers cut and burn large tracts of the rainforest, Bolsonaro, a supporter of Brazil's influential agriculture industry, has presided over a dramatic depletion of the rainforest. 9,178 square kilometers (3,543 square miles) were damaged in 2019, his first year in power, making it the worst year ever. Under Bolsonaro, Brazil's commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were not kept, and he even threatened to have the nation leave the Paris Climate Agreement.
The Conversation journalist Kathryn Baragwanath recently reported that Bolsonaro “had promised to reduce environmental oversight, halt Indigenous land demarcations and allow the extraction of resources from protected areas in the Amazon” and he did just that.
On Sunday, October 30, the Brazilian people voted for the direction in which their nation would go for the ensuing four years. It would be greener, they decided. It seems that voters got convinced by Lula’s promise: “we will reinstate careful monitoring of the Amazon, we will fight against illegal mining, deforestation and the extension of agricultural land”.
It is imperative to restart the effective initiatives that previously stopped deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in order to restore Brazil to its prior role as a global leader in sustainable development.
With the Amazon Rainforest called the “world's lung”, it is the planet’s hope that Lula da Silva’ Brazil’s presidential election wins is a new hope for the fight against climate change. It remains to be seen in practice, but Lula has the track record to back up his claims as well; during his first term in office, deforestation rates were significantly reduced. In any case, ending the regime of the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro whose reign has proved devastating for the Amazon rainforest, climate change, and the country’s Indigenous people, can only be grounds for something better. For all of us.
