What the Election of Bolsonaro Could Mean for the Future of Brazilian Rainforests and Indigenous People
Brazil has a history of being a leading country in climate change awareness and conservation. In 1992, the international powers of the world came together in Brazil to discuss the risks of excessive greenhouse gas emissions. Brazil was also a key country in the Paris Agreement, a revolutionary convention on climate change. In addition to this, most of the Amazon Rainforest, the largest tropical rainforest in the world is located in Brazil.
In October’s presidential election, Brazil elected a far-right conservative Jair Bolsonaro, the first far right president since 1985. On January 1st, 2019 Bolsonaro will be sworn in as the new President of Brazil. The victory of Jair Bolsonaro has created worry amongst environmentalists in both Brazil and the rest of the world. Bolsonaro strong anti-environmental agenda could mean a lot for the future of the Amazon rainforest, sometimes referred to as the world’s lungs. Although our forests are considered a renewable resource we are currently cutting down the world’s forest faster than they can be renewed on a human time scale.
President elect Bolsonaro stressed in his campaign the importance of businesses and industry over the biodiversity that rests in Brazil. Bolsonaro has also emphasized his promise to push back on enforcing environmental laws and has criticized the countries current policy of reserving 12% of the country’s land for the indigenous tribes. A main plan of Bolsonaro’s is to combine environmental and agricultural ministries which may lead to even more deforestation, which will ultimately put the country’s rainforests at an even larger risks. The largest rainforests, the Amazon serves as an extremely significant carbon sink, meaning it holds massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Deforestation could easily throw off the balance, releasing carbon dioxide and heating the atmosphere. If Bolsonaro follows through with his said plans for the tropical rainforests and deforestation rates rise the world will be on a road to even more severe climatic changes and threats of global warming.
As far as the Indigenous people of Brazil go, they are at a very large risks with Jair Bolsonaro being sworn into office. Bolsonaro stated, “It’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry wasn’t as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated their Indians.” Bolsonaro strong feelings towards the indigenous people, calling them uneducated and an “obstacle for agribusiness” could mean disaster and at worst possibly even genocide.
