The image will mark President Jair Bolsonaro's government: the darkened sky in the middle of the afternoon in São Paulo because of the thick smoke caused by the fires in the Amazon.
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It was August 19, 2019, less than nine months after Bolsonaro came to power. Images of the black cloud traveling thousands of kilometers have sparked global outrage over the accelerating destruction of the planet's largest rainforest.
Three years later, the president is running for re-election with a record on environmental issues considered disastrous by environmentalists.
During the former Army captain's tenure, the average annual deforestation in the Legal Amazon – mainly caused by the felling of trees to make room for crops and livestock farming – increased by 75% compared to the previous decade.
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Last year, the budget dedicated to public environmental preservation organizations decreased by 71% compared to 2014, when it reached its peak, according to a study prepared by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the NGO Instituto Socioambiental.
Bolsonaro fired employees who resisted his environmental policies, criticized international leaders with nationalist speeches about “our Amazon” and was accused of maintaining support for agricultural and mining activities to the detriment of keeping the forest standing, including in protected areas, such as indigenous reserves.
For scientists and environmentalists, the polarized election on Sunday (2), in which Bolsonaro (PL) faces former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), favorite in voting intention polls, will have potentially enormous consequences for the planet.
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“This is the most important election in Brazil's history,” says Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of Observatório do Clima, a network of environmental groups.
“It is a very radical decision that we are going to make in this election. We will choose whether the Amazon continues to live or there will be a death sentence with Bolsonaro’s reelection.”
Bolsonaro, against the grain
Environmental issues have attracted little interest in the campaign compared to socioeconomic issues in a country where 30 million people are hungry.
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But in the midst of the fight against global warming, the topic arouses interest beyond the borders of Brazil.
Scott Denning, an American expert on climate change at the University of Colorado, admits that he does not follow Brazilian politics, but said that he will carefully follow what will happen to the Amazon, which has 60% of its territory in Brazil.
Research shows that the forest, which until recently helped absorb growing carbon emissions, has begun to emit more than it absorbs.
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And these emissions from the Amazon doubled in Bolsonaro's first two years in office until they represented the equivalent of 5% of the planet's fossil fuel emissions.
“Another four years like this and it will be a lot of CO2. The Amazon is a huge living carbon sponge. But now we are cutting down and burning trees faster than they can regenerate,” explains Denning.
“The rest of the world is struggling to reduce fossil fuel emissions and Bolsonaro is going in the opposite direction.”
Criticism of Lula
In a statement, Bolsonaro's campaign defended the president's legacy, “balancing environmental protection with fair and sustainable economic growth for all and social benefits.”
But Lula has also been criticized for his environmental record, particularly his decision to build the giant Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in the Amazon.
His first year in government, 2003, was the second worst in terms of deforestation, with 27.772 square kilometers of tree cutting in the Amazon – double the 13.038 km2 in 2021, during the Bolsonaro government.
However, the Lula government subsequently reduced deforestation by 75% to record levels.
Two weeks ago, the former president obtained key support from his former environment minister, Marina Silva, who left his government in 2008, disenchanted by his policies in the Amazon.
Environmental activist Claudio Angelo, who worked on Marina's unsuccessful candidacy in 2018, claims that environmental issues are not a priority for Lula.
But activists are confident that it cannot be worse than Bolsonaro.
“Lula doesn’t have that agenda in his heart, but he’s not stupid. He knows that Brazil needs – that he needs as president – to regain international credibility, attract investment. And this involves responsible environmental management”, says Angelo.
Former union leader promeincrease the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, agreed by Brazil in the Paris Agreement, reactivate the Amazon Fund for international financing to protect the forest and “relentlessly” combat deforestation.
(With the AFP)
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