Image Source: Foreign Policy.
Less than a month after winning Brazil’s 2022 election, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made headlines at COP27 in Egypt by promising to achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030. Often referred to as the ‘lungs of the planet,’ the Amazon Rainforest spans nearly 2.6 million square miles across eight countries and is home to 10 percent of the world’s wildlife species. Holding an estimated 150-200 billion tons of carbon, the Amazon acts as a carbon sink, absorbing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making the region vital in the global fight against climate change.
Considering former President Jair Bolsonaro’s record of rampant environmental degradation, Lula’s win in 2022 also signified a major win for the planet. However, two years later, while significant conservation reforms have been implemented, skepticism remains regarding the fulfillment of Lula’s ambitious promises.
Having previously served two terms, Lula boasts an impressive record in combating climate change, an invaluable asset as he continues to address high deforestation rates. When he first took office in 2003, despite inheriting severe environmental degradation, Lula made environmental policy a central focus of his administration, laying a foundation for Brazil’s modern conservation efforts. From 2004 to 2012, Lula and his Workers’ Party successor Dilma Rousseff, saw phenomenal results, cutting the annual deforestation rate from 10.6 thousand square miles to just under two thousand square miles in 2012, marking an era of successful environmental reform.
However, this progress was dramatically reversed when Bolsonaro took office in 2019. Under his administration, the Amazon experienced the worst deforestation rates in over a decade, reaching a 15-year high of over five thousand square miles cleared in 2021. From dismantling protective regulations and cutting funding for science agencies and the environmental ministry budget to firing environmental agency workers and weakening indigenous land rights, Bolsonaro has left a lasting legacy of destruction in the region.
Lula Since 2022
While his policies may not be perfect, Lula should be given credit for the significant progress in light of the dire situation that was passed on to him. On his first day in office, he reinstated the Amazon Fund, a $1.2 billion reserve which aims to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation and promote preservation and sustainability in the rainforest. The Fund had been inactive for three years under the Bolsonaro administration.
With the help of now-reinstated Marina Silva as Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon fell by 34 percent in the first six months of Lula’s term, according to government satellite data. The data suggests that 1,022 square miles were deforested from January to June 2023, compared to 1,539 square miles during the same period in 2022 under Bolsonaro. Lula also made significant strides in protecting indigenous reserves in contrast with his predecessor. In April of 2023, he recognized six new indigenous reserves, banning mining and restricting commercial farming there.
Ongoing Challenges
Despite successes, Lula faces significant hurdles in fulfilling his ambitious promises. Since mid-2023, the Amazon has endured one of the worst droughts in 45 years, exacerbated by climate change and El Niño. This drought, combined with prior deforestation extremes, has left the rainforest highly vulnerable to fires. In 2023 alone, 26.4 million acres burned, a 35.4 percent rise from 2022.
Compounding these issues, Brazil’s environmental public servants have been on strike since January, protesting their salaries, which they claim don’t reflect the risks required for their job. As a result of the increased fires and lack of preventive surveillance, data from Brazil’s national space agency, Inpe, has shown a surge in rainforest depletion this year, with 2,833 square miles cleared between January and April — nearly triple the deforestation in the same period the prior year. The situation significantly undermines Lula’s pledge to end deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.
In addition to these challenges, the Brazilian president has been extensively criticized for mishandling the Yanomami humanitarian crisis. Despite his administration’s zero-tolerance vow for illegal mining, these activities persist, exposing the Yanomami people to diseases and poisoning their food and water sources with mercury from mining. In Lula’s first year, 308 deaths were recorded in the Indigenous territory, with malaria deaths doubling in 2023 compared to 2022.
And even after deploying nearly 2,000 health professionals and investing $243 million dollars, the government’s efforts continue to falter. Health workers and Indigenous leaders cite disorganized management, insufficient local knowledge, poor cooperation with NGOs, inconsistent healthcare delivery, and logistical challenges in removing illegal miners. With the Brazilian military reducing its Amazon presence mid-2023, gold miners have returned, making new encroachments into Yanomami territory.
The U.S. Role
In the spring of 2023, Lula and U.S. President Joe Biden met in Washington to discuss protecting Brazil’s forests and indigenous communities as part of the fight against climate change. Following their meeting, Biden pledged to work with Congress to secure further financing for Brazil to protect its forests, even pledging $500 million to the Amazon Fund over five years. However, details and timelines for these funds remain unclear. A year later, the Amazon Fund has received only about $3 million from the U.S., leaving promises unfulfilled. With elections on the horizon, a victory for Trump could further jeopardize Biden’s pledge. Trump, often seen as an ally of Bolsonaro, has shown little interest in supporting the Amazon, making the future of U.S. contributions to the rainforest even more uncertain.
Carolina Hohagen is a research intern at Global Americans.
Next Generation Commentary is a Global Americans series offering fresh insights from young analysts on the Americas, including our talented staff and interns.
