The fate of the Amazon rainforest was on the ballot in Brazil’s presidential run-off on Sunday, according to climate change experts, and with former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s narrow victory over President Jair Bolsonaro, they say the Amazon and the planet have won. .
Under Bolsonaro, rates of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest – the vast majority of which are illegal – have soared, reducing the forest’s ability to act as a “carbon sink” that absorbs carbon dioxide and causing a spike in greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil, which 9.5% increased in 2020. Lula has made stopping deforestation a priority in his first term, promising to reverse the trend and take other measures to combat climate change. In response to Sunday’s election results, climate experts sounded a sigh of relief.
“It’s over ****!” shouted profuse statement Regarding the election results of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, a think tank in Brazil. “The nightmare will finally end.”
Many in Brazil feared that deforestation during another Bolsonaro era would irreversibly damage the rainforest, which comprises 25% of the world’s biodiversity.
“Over the past four years, the Amazon has been threatened, attacked and devastated as the government has openly promoted environmental crime,” said Erica Berenger, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Ecosystems Laboratory, Tell New Scientist, Journal of Science and Technology. “It was like silencing a cry within you every day as you watched your life purpose, career and passion destroyed. Lola’s election is a victory not only for the region, but for humanity and life itself.”
Bolsonaro, a far-right politician, has demonized the country’s environmental protection agencies in order to promote economic development, while Lula, a leftist, has stressed the rights of the Amazon’s indigenous people to be protected from deforestation.
“It’s the most important election left this year in the world,” Nick Zimmerman, a former director of the National Security Council at the White House for Brazil and now a senior advisor to WestExec Advisors, said. Yahoo News earlier this month. Bolsonaro has an appalling record [on climate change]. Deforestation has risen again under his presidency.”
“If we take a look at the promises that Lula made, including in his victory speech last night, he was addressing many of the major problems but also completely deforestation and protecting the rights of indigenous people,” said Carlos Rittel, a Brazil specialist at the Rainforest Foundation. , For CNBC Monday morning.
Brazil now sixth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and It is the fourth largest Cumulative historical trigger when deforestation is included, after the United States, China and Russia.
Lula pledged to review Brazil’s “Nationally Determined Contribution” to the fight against climate change, an essential part of global climate diplomacy. As COP27, the next United Nations climate change conference, is set to kick off in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on November 8, Lula’s pledge comes at a time when other nations are being asked to strengthen their commitments to reduce emissions.
“Brazil’s renewed willingness to try to take a constructive position and try to really engage on this issue could be a really huge development,” Peter Ogden, vice president for energy, climate and environment at the United Nations Foundation, previously said. Yahoo news. “This could be a real boost to global action on deforestation.”
But Bolsonaro has done it so far Refusing to admit defeat. A fan of former President Donald Trump, he may be planning to challenge the election results.