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plummeted 80% by 2012. By 2010, 44% – an
area the size of Greenland – was protected or
designated as indigenous land. The emission
of 3.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide was
avoided. No more an environmental vandal,
Brazil became fêted worldwide. Remarkably, it
spared forests while simultaneously boosting
agricultural production – cattle by one-fifth
and soy by two-thirds. Brazil had decoupled
development from deforestation.
Lula da Silva’s deforestation-reducing initiatives
derived their legitimacy and impetus from an
existing piece of legislation called the Forest
Code. No single law worldwide has levied such
stringent demands on forest owners. Launched
in 1965, it required private landowners to
set aside 20—50% of native forests as ‘legal
reserves’, a proportion upped to 80% in 1996.
But it was a law under pressure. Come 2012, a
year into Dilma Rousseff’s presidency, powerful
agribusiness interests were fed up with the
Code’s constraints. They lobbied successfully
for dilutions to the Forest Code. The ‘New
Forest Code’ granted amnesty for landholders
who had illegally deforested 290,000 km2 prior
OCT-DEC 2019 • BIRDLIFE
to 2008. Some conservationists were appalled.
If old crimes could be pardoned, how could
the New Forest Code realistically deter fresh
deforestation?
Such fears were warranted. Rousseff
declined to sign the 2014 New York Declaration
on Forests, which pledged to eliminate all
deforestation by 2030; she would commit
only to ending illegal deforestation. Amazon
deforestation started rising and, despite two
brief downticks, continued to burgeon during
Michel Temer’s presidency (2016–18).
But it is the rapid surge in deforestation during
Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency that has really riled
conservationists. Riding, in the words of The
Washington Post, “a wave of voter rage” and
right-wing nationalism, Bolsonaro took power
in January 2019. His effect on the environment
appears swift and intense.
Bolsonaro is opening up protected lands
for commercial use, pressing plans for new
transport infrastructure that will facilitate
loggers’ access to Amazonian forests. He has
eviscerated government bodies protecting
the environment and managing conservation
areas. Bolsonaro has sacked senior government
An artist’s impression
of the blazes which ripped
through the Amazon this
past summer
Photo OSORIOartist
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