Future of Amazon rainforest policies at stake in Brazilian presidential election

Filed 1h ago · Via Mongabay · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Diplomatic Security Service from Washington, D.C., United St · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Brazil's presidential election could determine the fate of roughly 60% of the Amazon rainforest, with Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, positioned as a leading contender against incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Deforestation surged about 60% during the elder Bolsonaro's presidency; Lula reinstated anti-deforestation measures in 2023 that have since cut deforestation by 45%.

Flávio Bolsonaro has pledged to end illegal deforestation by 2029 but has offered no details on how he would do it. Experts quoted in the reporting warn that a Bolsonaro win could unwind the environmental protections Lula restored.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A promise to stop illegal logging in four years, with no plan attached, is the political equivalent of telling the bank you'll pay it back someday. The numbers already on the books, a 60 percent surge under one administration and a 45 percent drop under the next, tell you more than any campaign pledge will. Whoever wins inherits a forest that keeps score whether or not the candidates do.

Source: Read the original at Mongabay → Scored: Super Polka · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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