When the Brazilians went to the polls last year, it was not just an election for or against the previous president, the extremely controversial Jair Bolsonaro, who was called by some the “Trump of the Tropics”. It was also a choice, whether Brazil wanted to clear or save the rainforest. Brazil ended up choosing to drop Bolsonaro and instead Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was installed as president on January 1. One of his election promises was to better protect the country’s rainforest, and the new policy already seems to be starting to have an effect. In January, deforestation in Brazil fell by 61 percent, according to Brazil’s space agency, Inpe, which monitors the size of the rainforest using satellite images. That is written by Reuters. The news excites Gry Bossen, who is team leader for politics and engagement at the nature protection organization Verdens Skove and follows developments closely. “I think to a large extent that it is good news, because deforestation has clearly fallen significantly in January,” she says. Satellite images from Brazil are always a little more uncertain in January, as there are more clouds over the country at this time of year. But Gry Bosse believes that we can already say that the new president’s policy has started to work. “Lula is taking targeted action right now to stop especially illegal mining, which also means deforestation, and part of his declared political goal is precisely to stop deforestation. So I definitely think that this can be attributed to his accession,” she replies. Will take several years to rectify She explains that more and more forest was felled in the four years under the previous president, who was known for his hostile line against the rainforest. Among other things, Bolsonaro stated that deforestation and forest fires will never end in Brazil, as he sees it as part of the country’s culture. Therefore, he used his time as president not only to dismantle the rules and authorities, which were supposed to crack down on illegal deforestation, but also to change the law, so that the illegalities were made legal. “Especially at the end of his presidency in 2022, deforestation increased even more – it was as if people were just about to cut down a little more forest, before Lula took office. Because Lula has long announced other bowls on the soup,” says Gry Bossen. As an example, she mentions that one of Bolsonaro’s first decrees was that he made it legal to include indigenous people’s territories for mining. But under Lula it has now been made illegal again. “So immediately it seems, as if Lula’s signals have worked to that extent,” says Gry Bossen. She elaborates, however, that several years will pass before the forest protection institutions in Brazil, which were dismantled under the previous president, are fully functional again. Among other things, Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment’s department called IBAMA. It is the authority that in practice cracks down on them, that cuts down the forest illegally, but Bolsonaro sharply cut their budget and installed new people in the management. Under Lula, however, IBAMA has now again started patrolling in search of illegal loggers.
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Brazil slows down chainsaw massacres in the rainforest
