Nearly 20,000 km² of Amazon rainforest, roughly the size of the U.S. state of New Jersey, have remained intact since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's return to the Brazilian presidency. According to Carbon Brief's report, this area would have otherwise been lost to logging and fires, releasing tens of millions of tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere annually. The preservation of this vast space represents a notable reduction in deforestation, drawing the attention of climate negotiators and scientists worldwide.
Lula's measures that slowed deforestation: Legal framework and protected areas
The Brazilian government first strengthened the legal framework by creating new protected areas and increasing penalties for forest crimes. Additional indigenous reserves and national parks were designated, limiting illegal actors' access to strategic parts of the forest. The Ministry of Environment's budget was also increased, allowing for the hiring of more field agents to patrol these reserves' borders. These combined actions led to an observable decrease in illegal logging, as shown by official data comparisons before and after Lula's election (unconfirmed at this stage).
Forest monitoring benefited from major technological modernization. The satellite data system, combined with machine learning algorithms, daily analyzes thousands of images to detect real-time forest cover changes. These tools enable the precise identification of suspicious activities, triggering instant alerts to local authorities. Thanks to this predictive model, interventions are made more quickly, reducing the reaction time from several weeks to just a few days (unconfirmed at this stage).