Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon forest spiked in March, making the first 100 days of the Lula administration one of the worst quarters on record. This is according to official figures.
Through monitoring with satellite images, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) found that 356 square kilometers of forest have been destroyed in a month in the Brazilian part of the largest tropical forest in the world. That is an increase of 14 percent compared to March 2022, the last year of Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who nevertheless proclaimed himself ‘Captain Chainsaw’.
In the first quarter of 2023, the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon forest is the second highest in history, at 844 km2, just behind 2022 (941 km2).
“The data shows that there is a complex scenario due to the weakening of control in the region and the pro-illegal discourse of recent years,” said Mariana Napolitano, head of conservation for the NGO WWF-Brazil. “Although the current government has shown that it is very serious about combating deforestation, it will take time to change the scenario.”
On his first day in office, Lula signed a large number of decrees, establishing an interministerial working group on deforestation and reviving the Amazon Fund, an initiative financed by foreign donations but suspended under the Bolsonaro administration.
The Lula government faces a dilemma. It needs funding to reduce deforestation, but it needs to reduce deforestation first to build trust and attract that funding.
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