Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by half in 2023 from the year before, showing that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s efforts to restore environmental protections dismantled by his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, have achieved positive results. However, the first full year of Lula’s return to the presidency hasn’t been smooth sailing. Weakened in the face of a conservative Congress, his administration has been unable to prevent the passage of legislation that continues to dismantle environmental safeguards in favor of agribusiness interests. Just as under the Bolsonaro administration, Brazil’s Congress is still pushing what critics describe as an anti-environmental agenda, undermining Lula’s efforts to position Brazil as a global leader against climate change. Despite Lula’s victory in the 2022 elections, Congress has become even more conservative. In addition, the agribusiness caucus, known as the FPA, has become more organized. In 2023, it used its powers, particularly in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, to block or undermine government environmental proposals that could affect the interests of the businesses it champions. “It’s a more conservative Congress, more organized and more aware of its strength,” Dolores Silva, a professor in the political science graduate program at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), told Mongabay by phone. “The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, acts with unprecedented protagonism, setting agendas and guiding discussions. This protagonism helped Congress to retain some of the madness of the Bolsonaro government. Now, it’s a force that can stop Lula’s environmental agenda.” Nilto Tatto,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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