Lula faces the great challenge of keeping the Amazon 'alive'

“A Amazon it is very damaged. We need a plan”, says Luciana Gatti, from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).

the elected president promeyour “fight for zero deforestation” and “resume monitoring and surveillance” of the largest tropical forest in the world.

During Jair Bolsonaro's government, a skeptic of global warming, deforestation in the Amazon increased by more than 70%, according to official statistics.

In general numbers, the deforestation at the beginning of the first Lula government it was higher, but after his two terms it fell by 70%, according to the same sources.

Well before taking office on January 1st, Lula confirmed his participation in the climate summit, COP27, in Egypt, which begins on Sunday (6), in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, responding to an invitation made by the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi.

Resumption of support

International leaders included allusions to the environment in their congratulations to Lula after his victory. So where to start?

“Lula will have to act firmly from the beginning to practically refound the federal government’s actions in the Amazon region,” says Suely Araújo, a specialist at the Brazilian Climate Observatory and former president of the Brazilian Environmental Institute (IBAMA).

According to Shenker, Ibama and Funai (National Indian Foundation) need “financial resources and political will” after being marginalized by Bolsonaro.

The current president considered the agencies an impediment to economic progress, by delaying licenses for logging, agribusiness and mining in the Amazon.

Lula “can also end the dangerous proposals” being debated in Congress, points out Shenker, referring to to the bill that could increase mining on indigenous lands.

For Araújo, Lula “must immediately resume climate policy, which was completely emptied during the Bolsonaro government”.

Brazil, he highlights, has become a “pariah” in climate negotiations and needs to align its policies with the Paris Agreement.

"No law"

Spread across 9 countries, the Amazon It is the largest of the few preserved tropical forests in the world. It has more indigenous species and people than any other place on Earth and is home to more than 100 uncontacted tribes.

Growing concern about the climate crisis has coincided with major burned in the Amazon in 2019, when Bolsonaro's inaction sparked protests around the world.

“The Bolsonaro government represents a deforestation of 50 thousand km2”, an area the size of Slovakia, highlights Luciana Gatti, who attributes the destruction to the international trade in beef, soy and wood.

Gatti suggests declaring a “state of emergency” in the region and launching a reforestation program in the most affected areas, something that Brazilian scientists will propose at COP27. “Saving this part must be our priority.”

But just bringing the Amazon back to the state it was in before Bolsonaro will be a battle, Gatti points out. “Today, the Amazon is a lawless place”.

(with AFP)

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