The result of the Brazilian election provides a ray of hope for the Amazon rainforest, indigenous peoples, and our planet.
The historic result means that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will replace Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil, an outcome celebrated around the world. Bolsonaro’s presidency saw deforestation in the Amazon increase to a 15-year high, threatening the future of this vital and iconic ecosystem, one of the most biodiverse places on earth.
The Amazon rainforest spans eight countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname—and French Guiana, an overseas territory of France. As well as being home to a third of all known plant and animal species in the world, the Amazon contains half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests which stores up to 140 billion tons of carbon and plays a crucial role in stabilising the local and global climate. The Amazon is also critical to an estimated 20 million Indigenous peoples from more than 350 Indigenous groups.
There is still so much work to be done but we believe that this result offers an opportunity to prevent further destruction of the Amazon rainforest and offers renewed hope for our planet.
