Lula at COP-27. Promises “Zero Deforestation” by 2030.
President-Elect Lula speaks with youth activists during COP-27 taking place in Egypt. Thursday 17th, 2022. Image source: AP Photo/Peter Dejong.
Brazilian President-Elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Brazil's promise to reach "zero deforestation" by 2030 in his speech at the COP-27 Climate Summit hosted in Egypt.
"I'm here to announce that Brazil is back," Lula said while addressing delegates at the summit. "We will do whatever it takes to have zero deforestation and degradation of our biomes by 2030.”
Bound to take office in January, Lula's participation in the summit signifies his government's commitment to bringing Brazil back to the international community.
Having narrowly won Brazil's 2022 presidential election with 50.9% of the vote over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, Lula seems eager to establish Brazil's new stance on climate, departing from the language and policies of the former presidency. During his speech, Lula vowed to crack down on deforestation, threatening "rigorous punishment" for deforestation from the mining and agriculture industries.
Protecting the Amazon is at the forefront of Lula's climate policy, since most of the forest is found in Brazil. The region's climate leadership depends on Brazil for this very reason. The Amazon is the largest and most diverse forest in South America and holds approximately 90-140 million tons of carbon. Deforestation releases this carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
Lula outlined two policies during his speech, emphasizing his commitment to international agreements on sustainability. He announced his proposal to create a new ministry for indigenous groups, elevating their climate concerns to the highest level of government. Lula also promised to rebuild several environment monitoring and enforcement agencies that Bolsonaro actively weakened.
Bolsonaro's presidency, ending in January 2023, has raised concerns for climate activists both in Brazil and worldwide. Between promises to exit the Paris accords and constant conflict with the scientific community, Brazil has faced the largest surge in deforestation rates in its history. According to the National Institute of Space Research in Brazil (INPE), the Amazon lost over 13,000 square miles of tree coverage between 2019 and 2021.
Bar graph depicting the amount of yearly deforested area. The graph depicts the previous three president’s terms and their influence on deforestation. The rate of growth for Balsonaro’s term significantly surpasses the previous two administrations. Image source: AP Photo/Peter Dejong.
Bolsonaro's policies aimed at "ending an industry of environmental fines" and dismantling the Ministry of Environment. He succeeded at diminishing the environmental ministry's strength by delegating its responsibilities to other departments, subsequently decentralizing its internal activities.
Bolsonaro celebrated his so-called success in reducing 80% of the Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources’ (IBAMA) environmental fines on properties built in rural areas. According to Suely Araújo, a public-policy specialist at Brazil’s Climate Observatory, "these policies resulted in an explosion in deforestation rates, wildcat mining, and invasion of public lands, followed by great social conflict."
Internationally, Bolsonaro's refusal to host the annual U.N climate summit in 2019 emphasized his government's blatant rejection of a climate-conscious foreign and domestic policy. This is in sharp contrast to Lula's announcement to make a bid to host the 2025 COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
Lula's climate-first approach was well received at COP27 and signals a substantial departure from Brazil's position through the past 4 years.
Further, while addressing delegations at the summit, Lula made clear that "rich countries need to step forward" and provide "more resources for a problem created by rich countries but is disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable."