A Political Win for the Amazon Rainforest

Amazon River in Brazil, 2018

Edited by Michelle Ho

It is important for the world that the Amazon rainforest is conserved, as over 76 billion tonnes of carbon is stored there, making it a key stabilizing factor in our climate. After almost a decade of shaky conservation efforts made by Brazil, the results of the latest Brazilian presidential election are key - and things are looking up.

With the former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro losing the election to the former leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (commonly known as Lula), the rate of deforestation in the Amazon is expected to drop nearly 90% in the next decade, with him vowing to save the forests. This comes at a very crucial time to the country, as under the leadership of Bolsonaro (since 2019) the rate of deforestation has soared and was expected to continue rising had he not lost. 

Previously when Lula had been president (2003-2011), he had managed to decline deforestation rates from over 25,000km² to almost 5,000km² in eight years, whereas Bolsonaro had managed to bring it back up to 15,000km² in a matter of three years. This was mainly caused by his oversight of weak environmental governance as well as making changes to existing structures that would provide protection, namely the Amazon Fund.

The Amazon Fund is a finance initiative that allows richer countries to fund the prevention of deforestation. It has supported 102 projects as of 2022, ranging from university projects to international efforts. During Bolsonaro’s presidency, he froze the funds that could be used in any protection efforts in order to dilute their uses. Earlier this month the country’s supreme court worked to revive the fund, with January 2023 being the deadline to return it to its original structure under Lula’s governance.

Christian Poirier - a program director at the nonprofit advocacy group Amazon Watch, told Vox, “Everything that Lula has said, and even his track record, would indicate that he’s going to undo the brutal regressions of the Bolsonaro regime.”

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