The eyes of much of the environmental movement were on Brazil this week as that nation faced an electoral choice with enormous consequences for the Amazon rainforest, and indeed, for the future of the world. President-elect Lula da Silva won by a tiny margin, and faces huge challenges, as we learn from the AP:

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In a victory speech Sunday, Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised to reverse a surge in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

“We will once again monitor and do surveillance in the Amazon. We will fight every illegal activity,” leftist da Silva said in his speech at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo. “At the same time, we will promote sustainable development of communities in the Amazon.”

To achieve this in his third term, he will have to boost environmental law enforcement, face a hostile Congress and deal with state governors who have strong ties with the defeated far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

If he is serious, the job will be immense. The area deforested in Brazil’s Amazon reached a 15-year high from August 2020 to July 2021, according to official figures. Satellite monitoring shows the trend in 2022 is on track to surpass the previous year.

In the face of the terrible fires that consume large areas of flora and fauna of our Amazon, the organizations that make up the Evangelical Coalition for Climate Justice published a document asking for forgiveness of indigenous peoples, supporting organizations that fight for the Amazon and urge the Brazilian government and the world to take urgent measures to stop fires and protect the Amazon forest. (translated by Google)

Here is the original:
Ante los terribles incendios que consumen grandes extensiones de flora y fauna de nuestra Amazonía, las organizaciones que conforman la Coalición Evangélica por la Justicia Climática publicaron un documento donde piden perdón a los pueblos indígenas, apoyan a las organizaciones que luchan por la Amazonia e instan al gobierno de Brasil y al mundo a tomar medidas urgentes para detener los incendios y proteger el bosque amazónico.
Click here for the full statement:
alc-noticias.net/es/2019/08/24/pronunciamiento-de-la-coalicion-evangelica-por-la-justicia-climatica-ante-crisis-en-amazonia-de-brasil/?fbclid=IwAR1mDe6OFdy1qa0_iMZghAZAL2wD-PwP7COnXr2q20Y6ZEmy-ssV6…

Scroll to the end to see the full list of organizations signing, including TearFund-Latin America and LWCCN’s own Red Lausana para el Cuidado de la Creación, a group that was formed at the Latin America Creation Care and the Gospel conference in Peru in 2015. [Thank you to Juliana Morrillo, LWCCN’s Latin America Coordinator]