To save the Amazon, Lula must work out who owns it
The fight against deforestation is going better. But it needs cash, cops—and a better property register
Along the Madeira river, in the heart of the rainforest, the Brazilian government has been seizing barges and blowing them up. The barges belong to garimpeiros (wildcat miners) who are searching illegally for gold. They dredge up sediment from the river bed and add mercury, which forms a coating around flecks of the precious metal. Then they burn it off, leaving pure gold and emitting toxic vapour.
Brazil’s previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, the son of a wildcat miner, made little effort to stop garimpeiros from polluting the Amazonian ecosystem. Quite the opposite: by consistently backing the loggers, miners and ranchers who are destroying the rainforest, he turned Brazil into a global pariah. His successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is determined to save the Amazon and Brazil’s reputation. Since taking office in January he has been cracking down hard; some would say brutally.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "To save the Amazon, Lula must work out who owns it"
From the December 2nd 2023 edition
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