 Lula's win is a relief for officials on the ground taking enforcement against illegal deforestation, which ranges from destroying loggers' vehicles to issuing fines. Bolsonaro boasted that fines issued by the federal environment agency, Ibama, have fallen 80% under his leadership. READ MORE: * Bolsonaro hasn't conceded to Lula in Brazil election - is he following the Trump playbook? * Jail term to third term: how Brazil's Lula defied odds to return to power * Did Amazon forest protection offsets save the carbon claimed? * How beef demand is accelerating the Amazon's deforestation and climate peril One unnamed official said that the change of government was good news. 'Deforestation reduced under Lula [before]. He has a commitment to the civil service,' they said. However, they said that turning around efforts on the ground would take more than just criminals once again fearing the threat of enforcement. 'We need more personnel, better IT, better equipment. We haven't had a rise in five years.' Marcos Amend, an environmental economist at the Wildlife Conserv){kind=link}
Brazilian officials fighting to protect the Amazon have hailed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidential election victory over President Bolsonaro as a lifeline for a rainforest exploited with impunity under the incumbent leader.
Bolsonaro’s gutting of environmental agencies and dismissive rhetoric allowed lax enforcement against logging and illegal mining, resulting in deforestation rates climbing to a 15-year high last year.
Before the election there was a rush to chop down and burn trees to make way for cattle ranches, mines and other developments, as individuals and organised crime groups prepared for a clampdown if Lula took office. Satellite data showed deforestation rose sharply in September with an area nearly twice the size of New York City cleared, a record for the month.
• Who
© Times Newspapers Limited 2022.