Brazil’s new president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has made steps to protect the future of the Amazon Rainforest. Following the inauguration of president Lula, there are new hopes and conversations about preserving the Amazon.

During his first speech to Congress on January 1 2023, Lula said Brazil did not “need to deforest” the world’s most important ecosystem to support the country’s agricultural sector. He reiterated his goal of “zero deforestation” in his speech.

Lula’s pro-environment speech calls to protect the rainforest and Indigenous people. Effective from January 2 2023, Lula issued six decrees revoking or adjusting anti-envionment-and-Indigenous measures instated by Bolsonaro.

While the decrees are promising, many are aware of the sheer damage already done. “Time hasn’t stopped and the climate emergency scenario has deteriorated. It is now globally worse than when Bolsonaro’s government started” explains Wesley Matheus, chief data advisor for the secretary of social development Minas Gerais, Brazil. “It is hard to think of a timeframe for restoration because we’re still in the process of understanding how great [the devastation was].”

Human Rights and the Amazon Rainforest

According to Human Rights Watch, in the first three years of Bolsonaro’s government, the average deforestation was 75% higher than in the previous decade (2009-2018). The invasions and illegal exploitation of Indigenous lands tripled. The Amazon Rainforest has suffered at the hands of the far-right and the green-lighting of criminality against land and people. The optimism that comes with Lula’s second presidency takes this into account.

In recent reports, Paulo Moutinho, a scientist at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute Belém, Brazil says immediate action must be taken to curb deforestation. Moutinho insists that large areas of public forests are most in need off urgent protection measures. “We are talking about 56 million hectares of well-preserved forests – that’s the size of Spain,” Moutinho explains.

Related: Brazil’s Paradise Beach City Is The First Digital Nomad Village In South America

Brazilian amazon