The outcome of Brazil's presidential runoff election later this month is expected to determine the fate of the Amazon rainforest, often referred to as the 'lungs of the Earth.'
The right-wing candidate has pledged to expand logging in the Amazon, while the incumbent leftist president, who is seeking re-election, strongly opposes deforestation.
According to the New York Times on October 18, Flávio Bolsonaro, a Brazilian senator, has promised to facilitate the extraction of the Amazon's abundant resources during this election cycle. He also proposed to streamline environmental protection procedures to lower the threshold for logging permits by 2029.
Bolsonaro has previously co-sponsored legislation to ease restrictions on logging in the Amazon for landowners. During his recent campaign, he claimed, "The most effective way to address environmental issues is through the methods we implemented during the Bolsonaro administration," referring to his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro.
In contrast, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is taking the opposite approach by normalizing enforcement by environmental authorities and promoting forest restoration.
Traditionally, Brazil's environmental policies for the Amazon have sharply diverged based on the ruling party's ideology. Right-wing administrations have prioritized resource development and economic growth, actively supporting logging, while leftist governments have focused on environmental preservation and regulation.
During his first term in office in 2004, President Lula established the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm), enhancing satellite monitoring and enforcement against illegal logging, which reduced deforestation rates by over 80% by 2012.
However, during the subsequent right-wing government of Michel Temer, the average annual area of deforestation rose to 7,241 square kilometers, significantly higher than during Lula's administration.
The far-right Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019, drastically cut the budget for environmental enforcement and effectively dismantled the action plan for preventing and controlling deforestation.
According to the New York Times, during Bolsonaro's four-year presidency, the total area of deforestation in Brazil reached 2.6 million hectares (46,000 square kilometers), equivalent to the size of 5,777 Central Parks in New York City. This means that, on average, about four parks disappeared each day over those four years.
The current Lula administration has quadrupled the annual funding for the Amazon Fund and restored enforcement networks, resulting in the lowest deforestation rate in a decade during the first half of this year.
The Amazon plays a crucial role in producing a significant portion of the Earth's oxygen and absorbing vast amounts of carbon, making it a key buffer against global climate change. This is why the outcome of the upcoming election is seen as pivotal for the planet's ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Brazil's electoral system employs a runoff voting method if no candidate receives a majority in the first round. In the first round held on October 4, neither Flávio Bolsonaro (47.07%) nor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (45.12%) secured a majority, leading to a decisive runoff on October 25.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.