Stockholm (NordSIP) – As Brazil wobbles from its presidential election to an uncertain transfer of power, it is worth considering the background to this election and its potential implications for the world and climate change.
The returning president’s commitments to the environment increase the likelihood that the country will remain a member of the Paris Agreement, while also raising the prospect that the Amazon fund, backed by Norway and Germany, may be reactivated.
The Comeback Kid
On Sunday, October 30th, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who held the office of President of Brazil between 2003 and 2010, was elected once again to the highest office in his country, defeating the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by a narrow 50.9% of the votes.
The political campaign and judicial background to Lula’s reelection are a saga deserving its own article. Five years after Lula left office he became the target of an investigation for participating in a corruption scandal, which saw him accused and found guilty of the charges, only to be subsequently released from prison after the supreme court annulled his sentence on the ground of irregularities in his cases.
Bolsonaro and Deforestation
The Bolsonaro presidency follows similar themes to the ones of Donald Trump in the USA, including callousness towards minorities, COVID19 scepticism and climate change denial. Given Brazil’s ownership of the Amazon rain forest, another polemic aspect of the Bolsonaro administration was his support of deforestation and the agribusiness industry that fuels it. The weight of these industries on Brazil’s economy is four to 7 times that in the EU and in the USA.
Although Brazil was one of the original signatories of the Paris agreement, Bolsonaro repeatedly threatened to leave the agreement. Moreover, Bolsonaro’s Minister of the Environment between 2019 and 2021, Ricardo Salles, was repeatedly accused of environmental negligence, including undermining the work of the Amazon fund and efforts to legalize the occupation of public forests. Salles was ultimately forced to resign once the Supreme Court opened an investigation following police allegations that he hindered an environmental inspection and disrupted an investigation into a criminal offence involving a criminal organization.
The general disregard for the environment that characterised Bolsonaro administration bore its fruits, leading to an increase in deforestation, that overturned 12 years of progress.
Lula’s Promises
For environmentalists, Lula is synonymous with a decade of climate-friendly policies implemented during his first mandate, which saw significant efforts to minimise deforestation in Brazil.
Celebrating his victory, Lula reiterated his commitment to fight deforestation, according to Euronews.“Let’s fight for zero deforestation,” he said in his victory speech. “Brazil is ready to resume its leading role in the fight against the climate crisis, protecting all our biomes, especially the Amazon rainforest.”
“Brazil will fight for a living Amazon; a standing tree is worth more than thousands of logs – that is why we will resume the surveillance of the entire Amazon and any illegal activity, and at the same time we will promote sustainable development,” Lula added.
Reviving the Amazon Fund
According to the same source, Norway expressed an interest in resuming subsidies to protect the Amazon forest via the Amazon Fund.
“We had a good and very close collaboration with the government before Bolsonaro and deforestation in Brazil declined greatly under Lula da Silva’s (previous) presidency,” said Norwegian Environment Minister Espen Barthe Edie (Pictured).
According to the minister, NOK5 billion (€485 million) in unused funds could be allocated to the Amazon fund.
