Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has
achieved a remarkable feat. As fires,
many deliberately started, raged in the
Amazon, he lost Brazil all the interna-
tional respect it had earned over the
years for tackling climate change and
protecting the environment.
The world watched in dismay at
the destruction. International leaders
expressed concern and protests were held
outside Brazilian embassies. Bolsonaro
faces becoming an international pariah
and reducing Brazil’s access to world
markets. And it has all happened because
the Brazilian president has pandered to
the suicidal drives of an anachronistic
portion of the agribusiness and mineral
extractive industries.
Since coming to office, he has
criticized environmental and labour
controls, saying that under his rule there
would be no punishment for those who
wanted to ‘develop’ the Amazon.
This was a green light to farmers
and loggers to burn and clear the forest
and for miners to feel free to invade
indigenous territories. Bolsonaro even
forced the resignation of a renowned
scientist heading the Brazilian Institutefor Space Research, in charge of satellite
monitoring of forests.
When criticized, Bolsonaro uses
the argument that he is protecting
Brazilian sovereignty over the Amazon.
The criticism, he says, is coming from
those who want to ‘internationalize’ the
region in order to exploit it. A polar bear
trapped on a piece of ice floating in the
Arctic could tell him that the process
of climate change is not about Left and
Right politics: it is about survival.
The Amazon is not ‘the lungs of
the world’ as commonly stated; the
oceans play that role. But the rainfor-
est stores billions of tons of carbon that,
if released, would make the planet a lot
less habitable. Without the Amazon,
areas of Brazil can bid farewell to their
agriculture because their rainfall system
depends on it. And, of course, the
Amazon contains the largest biodiver-
sity on earth; millions of people live in
it, including traditional populations with
their languages and cultures.
Brazilian public opinion, as far as
we can tell in these times of chaos, is
mixed. In September the leading polling
institute, DataFolha, published a poll
that showed 25 per cent considered Bol-
sonaro’s policy on the Amazon as ‘good
or very good’ and 51 per cent as ‘poor or
very poor’. Some 57 per cent fully agreed
that ‘the interest of other countries in
the Amazon is legitimate because it is
important for the entire planet’. But 42
per cent fully agreed that ‘the interest of
other countries in the Amazon is just an
excuse to exploit it’.
As a major producer of food andcommodities, Brazil has often faced
attempts by competing countries to
raise protectionist trade barriers against
its goods on environmental or human
rights grounds. We are now providing the
perfect rationale for such action.
Bolsonaro may speak bluntly to the
leaders of foreign governments. He may
dive into conspiracy theories and para-
noia, where his most loyal supporters feel
good. But at the end of the day, he needs to
answer whether his government is willing
to fight the real threats that endanger our
planet. Or will it mock them and sacrifice
revenues from Brazilian exports of beef
or soybeans, blocked at ports around the
world, as Brazil stands accused of being an
environmental and social criminal?
Bolsonaro need not believe in climate
change; believing in boycott will be
enough. OLEONARDO SAKAMOTO IS A POLITICAL SCIENTIST
AND JOURNALIST BASED IN SÃO PAULO. HE IS
A CAMPAIGNER WITH THE INVESTIGATIVE NGO
REPÓRTER BRASIL, WHICH HE ESTABLISHED IN 2001.NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2019 59Suicidal drives and
fake patriotismVIEW FROM
BRAZIL
ILLUSTRATION: KATE COPELAND