Amazon Deforestation Is Falling Under Brazil's New President -- but Is It Too Late?
Lula is much, much better for the environment. But can he reverse Bolsonaro’s damage?
Sun February 11th, 2024
The Amazon rainforest is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, and plays a crucial role in maintaining Earth’s ecosystem. It’s also being slowly destroyed from within by cattle farmers, loggers, corporations and others who wish to develop the land for other purposes. But Brazil’s new president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is decidedly against this development, and new data shows that Amazon deforestation is falling dramatically under Lula.
When anti-environmentalist Jair Bolsonaro assumed the Brazilian presidency in 2019, he gave developers free rein of the Amazon rainforest, 60 percent of which is in Brazil. This, along with other policy decisions, led to a staggering increase in deforestation, alarming environmentalists and climate scientists around the world. By 2021, scientists were shocked to discover that some parts of the Amazon had been so overdeveloped that they now emit more carbon than they store.
But in 2022, Bolsonaro lost reelection to Lula, a former two-term president himself who’d overseen dramatic reductions in deforestation during his earlier administrations. Lula pledged to crack down on deforestation in the Amazon rainforest once again, and after his first year in office, he’s made good on that promise.
Why Does the Amazon Rainforest Matter?
The Short Answer:
The Amazon captures enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and is one of the most biodiverse areas on Earth. It’s also home to millions of Indigenous people and several species who don’t live anywhere else.
The Longer Answer:
The Amazon rainforest, simply by existing in its natural state, plays a crucial role in fighting climate change. That’s because it’s traditionally been one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks, meaning it absorbs and sequesters more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits. Carbon dioxide makes up more than three-quarters of all greenhouse gasses, which makes carbon sinks like the Amazon an invaluable tool in the fight against global warming.
In addition to sequestering carbon on a massive scale, the Amazon is also one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. An extraordinary array of plant and animal species call the Amazon their home — over three million, to be exact, including 2,500 species of tree and more species of primate than anywhere else. Some animals, such as the gray wooly monkey and the giant otter, are only found in the Amazon.
More:
https://sentientmedia.org/amazon-deforestation-brazils-new-president/