View from Brazil: Agribusiness try to block Lula’s plans for stopping global warning

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View from Brazil: Agribusiness try to block Lula’s plans for stopping global warning

Leonardo Sakamoto writes that President Lula of Brazil wants his country to be a leader in the fight against global warming. But the powerful representatives of agribusiness in Congress disagree.

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Deforestation close to Porto Velho, in the northwestern Brazilian state of Rondônia, on 7 August 2020. Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real via Wikimedia Commons

Everyone who worried about the future of the planet were happy about the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. One of Lula's big promises was to protect forests and cut carbon emissions. And the rate of deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon fell by a third in the first six months of his presidency compared with 2022.

Lula wants Brazil to be a leader in the fight against global warming. But the powerful representatives of agribusiness in Congress disagree. In May 2023, they passed a bill to stop the fight against environmental crimes. It is a big problem for Lula and the world.

The government said no to Petrobras’ plan to look for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River without environmental guarantees. After this, a group in Congress tried to reduce the power of the departments for the environment and Indigenous Peoples.

These departments are very important for fighting deforestation and land-grabbing, improving sanitation, waste treatment, water management, and protecting Indigenous lands. Environment minister Marina Silva said that the country was destroying its own plans for sustainable growth.

Then on 30 May 2023, with 283 votes to 155, the Chamber of Deputies passed the Time Frame bill, limiting Indigenous people's rights to their lands. This also allows the government to take back Indigenous peoples’ lands and build roads and dams on their lands without consulting them.

The bill would increase deforestation because Indigenous peoples protect their forest protection better than other conservation areas of Brazil.

All of these problems are because Lula’s government does not have a majority in Congress and must talk through every bill vote-by-vote in a mostly conservative government.

There are possible economic effects on trade and investment. Brazil is a big food and commodities producer, and their competitors have tried to stop the trade with Brazilian products because they say the country does not respect human rights and does not protect the environment.

Will the governments of Germany, Norway, and others continue to put their money into the Amazon Fund to protect the forest if the Brazilian Congress makes its laws weaker? Will the serious businesspeople in Brazil do nothing as Congress ruins the country’s image abroad and the quality of life of future generations?

NOW TRY THE ORIGINAL:

https://newint.org/features/2023/09/04/brazil-agribusiness-amazon-protection

(This article is in easier English so it is possible that we changed the words, the text structure, and the quotes.)