Deforestation in Brazil has increased by 60 percent during President Jair Bolsonaro’s four years in power, according to the Brazilian space research institute INPE.
Under Bolsonaro, rainforest the size of Manhattan was cut short in the Amazon, according to the Socio-Environmental Institute in Brazil.
Leftist Lula, who takes over as president at New Year, has promised to end all deforestation by 2030.
That promise will probably be one of the most difficult election promises to fulfill, some fear.
Livelihood
Many who live in the Amazon do not see logging as a problem, but as a way of survival. Forests are cleared to make room for pasture, and many people welcome mining and other industry because it provides jobs.
Bolsonaro, who during his four-year term allowed increased logging and commercial activity in the Amazon, secured far more votes than Lula in the region.
INCREASE: Deforestation in the world’s largest rainforest in the Amazon increased by 60 percent under President Jair Bolsonaro. The successor in the presidency, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, promises a complete stop to deforestation by 2030 Photo: Eraldo Peres
In the state of Acre, which is mainly covered by rainforest, around 70 percent of voters voted for Bolsonaro. It shows the challenges Lula will face when he has to fulfill his promise to stop deforestation.
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Former environmental protection minister Marina Silva is one of the favorites for the post also in Lula’s incoming government. The former rubber tapper himself comes from Acre and is an internationally recognized champion of rainforest conservation. That has made her very unpopular in Acre, where her environmental party – the Sustainability Network – barely gets enough votes.
The daughter of Chico Mendes, the world-renowned rainforest activist who was assassinated in 1988, emphasizes the importance of listening to the people of the Amazon.
– We have a lot of remaining forest. To ensure that it remains so, it is absolutely essential to find ways for people to live off the land there. That’s the only way we can ensure progress, says Angela Mendes.
