Future Prospects of the Amazon
By Ailbhe Doyle
Under Brazil’s previous leader Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation surged by 60% in Brazil. The rate at which the Amazon was being destroyed was so severe that sections of the rainforest became to emit more carbon than they were absorbing. In his reign of environmental terror, Bolsonaro stripped the Amazon of most of its protection and put immense pressure on the remaining indigenous landowners who were and remain the primary protectors of the forest to sell their land to industry. In the words of Declan McKenna, essentially, Bolsonaro ‘sold the Amazon’. Much of the forest lies within designated indigenous land which are protected areas, but these are targeted by the agricultural, mining and logging industries who often carry out illegal activity to push the tribes into giving up their land.
The new president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva or ‘Lula’, has claimed that he will attempt to halt and reverse the destruction of the rainforest, which is a monumental endeavour because almost two-thirds of the rainforest lies within Brazil’s borders. To kickstart this plan, Lula appointed Amazon activist Marina Silva as environment and climate change minister as well as proposing Sonia Guajajara, an indigenous woman, be Brazil’s first minister of indigenous peoples. This is another monumental move by Lula because the appointment of Guajajara gives the indigenous people of Brazil a ministry in government for the first time, which will be vital for their continued support in the protection of the Amazon. Marina Silva was previously in government under Lula in the early noughties and was widely credited with a huge drop in deforestation, which was at an even higher rate then, in 2003, than it is today.
In this initial time in government (2003-2010) Lula helped to develop a program called the Amazon Fund that would aim to maintain the Amazon and cut deforestation. Bolsonaro suspended this fund when he came into power, but Lula has declared it will be reopened as a reward for efforts to decrease destruction of the rainforest once again. In the most recent COP27 (Egypt) Brazil attended which sent the world a strong message that climate is once again a priority for the country, especially after Bolsonaro decided to skip the COP26 summit. In this year’s COP27, both Norway and Germany indicated that they are willing to unfreeze their contributions to Brazil through the Amazon Fund and Marina Silva went to the effort of lobbying Britain, France, the U.S. and others to contribute to the fund which suggests the Brazilian government are serious about reversing the damage done under Bolsonaro. Considering all of these positive updates on the modifications in government and in the approaches to protecting the Amazon, it is easier to be more confident in the conservation of the remaining biodiversity within the rainforest.
