Delphine Schiltz / Photo credit: SUAMY BEYDOUN / AGIF / AGIF VIA AFP
modified to
07:14, August 09, 2023
Since Tuesday, the eight countries hosting the Amazon have been meeting to discuss ways to preserve it. President Lula hopes to make this summit a “turning point” in the fight against global warming. And if Brazil can rely on good results in terms of deforestation, blind spots remain.
Preserving the largest rainforest in the world. This is the whole issue of the South American summit on the Amazon which opened on Tuesday between the eight countries which host it on their territory. Among them, Brazil and its president Lula who intends to make this meeting a “turning point” in the fight against global warming. Since the beginning of his mandate, the latter has established himself as a leader on environmental issues.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was divided by three last month compared to July 2022. And although we have to wait for the annual report, this figure is the sign of a radical political change operated by Lula. Under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, annual deforestation had jumped by 75%.
An oil exploitation project maintained
“Lula rebuilt everything that President Bolsonaro had destroyed. That is to say, cooperation and consultation bodies that brought together ministries, NGOs, Amerindian associations, etc. He undertook to create new protected areas, he rebuilt the environmental police that President Bolsonaro had disarmed”, recalls Catherine Aubertin, environmental economist.
However, this re-engagement is far from sufficient to make Brazil a pro-climate leader. In the Cerrado region, nearly 11,000 km² of tropical savannah disappeared last year in favor of soybean cultivation, while this ecosystem massively retains CO2. Brazil has also maintained an oil exploitation project at the mouth of the Amazon River.