Brazil is the home of the Amazon rainforest, containing around 65% of the remaining rainforest worldwide. Despite the importance of this biome as a store of carbon, deforestation is a huge problem. Cattle ranching is the main reason for the removal of trees and was responsible for 80% of deforestation in 2020. Despite increasing awareness of the issue, 2021 saw Brazil’s Amazon reach its highest level of deforestation for 15 years (see Figure 1).
In 2019, Jair Bolsonaro was elected as president of Brazil. During his presidency (which ended in January 2023), Bolsonaro argued that the Amazon rainforest is Brazil’s natural resource, so why shouldn’t it be exploited for economic gain? In March 2022, he proposed a series of laws intended to weaken Brazil existing environmental legislation. This was despite the fact that both the Brazilian people and the international community became increasingly concerned about the wellbeing of the Amazon rainforest following a series of fires in July and August 2019. Luckily, these reforms didn’t happen as Bolsonaro has now been replaced as president by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
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