Journalism of Courage
Brazil's presidential election on Sunday may determine the fate of the Amazon jungle, the world's largest rainforest, after deforestation soared in the past four years under President Jair Bolsonaro. (Reuters)
Bolsonaro faces off against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has pledged to stop all Amazon destruction and act aggressively on climate change. In Pic: Former Brazil's President Lula da Silva (Reuters)
Protecting the Amazon is vital to stopping catastrophic climate change because of the vast amount of climate-warming greenhouse gas it absorbs. In Pic: Macaws fly near a tree at the Amazon rainforest. (Reuters)
Bolsonaro, who took office at the start of 2019, has pushed for more mining and commercial farming in the Amazon, saying it would develop the region economically and help to fight poverty. (Reuters)
Jair Bolsonaro has weakened environmental enforcement agencies, cutting their budgets and staff while making it more difficult to punish environmental criminals. (Reuters)
Destruction in the Amazon rainforest last year hit the highest level since 2006, according to the government's space research agency INPE. (Reuters)
An area of forest larger than the US state of Maryland was destroyed during the first three years of Bolsonaro's presidency. (Reuters)
When Lula took office in 2003 with levels of Amazon deforestation near all-time highs, but by 2010, his last year in office, deforestation had fallen by 72% to near record lows. But he also backed the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon, which destroyed river habitats and displaced indigenous people. (AP Photo)
Indigenous groups have broadly endorsed Lula, who promises to empower them to protect their lands from environmental destruction. In Pic: Indigenous groups from the Brazilian Amazon and Extinction Rebellion activists protest in front of Paris courthouse in June 2022 (Reuters)
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro's public criticism of conservation efforts emboldened illegal loggers, ranchers and land grabbers to clear the forest with less fear the government will punish them, scientists and environmentalists say. (AP Photo)
Scientists have warned that the Amazon forest is approaching a critical tipping point past which there could be severe, irreversible consequences for the planet. (Reuters)
