In good news for the planet, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has issued decrees to protect the Amazon and Indigenous people, reversing the anti-environment-and-Indigenous era of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
Six decrees revoked or altered measures imposed by Bolsonaro’s administration, including the annulment of a decree that encouraged mining in Indigenous lands and protected areas, the resumption of plans to combat deforestation in the Amazon and the resumption of the Amazon Fund, a pool of funding provided to Brazil by developed nations to finance a variety of programs aimed at halting deforestation that was stalled under Bolsonaro - despite $500 million just sitting there waiting to be put to good use.
“Our goal is to achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon and zero emission of greenhouse gases in the electricity matrix, in addition to stimulating the reuse of degraded pastureland. Brazil does not need to deforest in order to maintain and expand its strategic agricultural frontier,” Lula said. “We will not tolerate violence against minorities, deforestation and environmental degradation, which have already done so much harm to the country.”
Right after the publication of the decrees in Brazil’s official gazette, Norway announced the immediate release of already available funding for new projects. “On Day 1, President Lula confirmed his ambitions to reduce deforestation and reinstated the governance structure of the Amazon Fund. Today, I confirmed to Marina Silva Norway’s understanding that this allows for an immediate re-activation of the Fund,” Norway’s minister of climate and environment announced on Twitter.
Silva is Brazil’s minister of environment and climate change; the name of the ministry also gained the “climate change” addition to its previous name of Ministry of Environment. “The world expects Brazil to once again become a leader in facing the climate crisis and an example of a socially and environmentally responsible country,” said Lula.
Germans versus Brazilians: No, it's not a football match or anything to do with penalty shoot outs. This is all about the difference in approach to righting a huge articulated truck. Teutonic precision versus Latin "let's see how this works". The difference in results is hilarious; if you're German. Watch...