Link to article: https://apnews.com/a6c347c672595611a9ce6004b59a1f79
Jair Bolsonaro, the 38th President of Brazil, spoke last week to the UN about his country’s global effect due to his choices in leadership. Bolsonaro spoke out about his belief that the media is slandering his administration’s actions with regards to the Amazon Rainforest and its handling of COVID-19.
During Bolsonaro’s 2019 presidential campaign, he promised that opening more of the Amazon Rainforest to business development would improve Brazil’s struggling economy. For this reason, he gained many supporters and has gone on to allow increased deforestation practices. The Amsterdam Declaration Partnership, a non-legally-binding alliance of countries set on reducing deforestation in the world, has published a statement urging Brazil to take action against this deforestation, however Bolsonaro claims that they are just trying to “discredit his government”.
This article shows how other countries are starting to hold each other accountable for the environment, something that will continue to grow in importance if we are to mitigate the climate crisis. Brazil’s actions or lack thereof with regards to stewardship of the Amazon will likely be a major tipping point in the battle against climate change.
Relationships between Brazil and countries like those of the Amsterdam Declaration Partnership will likely only continue to be strained as Brazil carries out its plans to continue deforestation of the Amazon at record rates. In addition to destroying the environment, this action may cause some countries to revoke trade agreements in the hopes of forcing some sort of environmental preservation action from Bolsonaro’s administration.
In addition to climate issues, Bolsonaro is currently facing scrutiny for his management of COVID-19. Bolsanaro did pass a $65 million relief package to help low-income families and small businesses struggling with financial loss during the pandemic, but his refusal to take the pandemic seriously and his blatant ignorance of health officials’ warnings has caused coronavirus cases in Brazil to soar. Bolsanaro has not enforced any precautions such as a mandatory quarantine or mandatory masks while going out in public, resulting in 137,000 deaths and 4.6 million coronavirus cases in Brazil, which is now the third most cases in the world.
As discussed in class, many countries around the world are restricting travel in the interest of helping mitigate the spread of COVID-19, however Brazil has done the exact opposite and has reopened its borders to any airline travelers in the hopes of keeping the tourism industry alive.