MARAÃ, Brazil—Dismayed by illegal logging and fishing near his Amazon River village, Alzanir de Souza organized a flotilla of small boats so 200 relatives and neighbors could make the 18-hour voyage in October to the nearest town to vote in Brazil’s presidential election.
Their support helped
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
a left-wing former president who has said he would work to better protect the Amazon, defeat incumbent
Jair Bolsonaro.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s right-wing government had slashed funding and staffing at environmental agencies, environmentalists and employees of those agencies said, fueling a significant increase in deforestation. “We have put our faith in this new government,” said Mr. de Souza, who manages a fishing cooperative.
So have many others who want to see stronger protection for the Amazon. Mr. da Silva, who will take the oath of office Sunday, received thunderous applause last month at the U.N. climate summit in Egypt, where presidents and environmentalists lauded him as a the rainforest ‘s potential savior.
“We will do whatever it takes to have zero deforestation,” he said in his first big overseas speech since the election.
Still, Mr. da Silva will face budget constraints, stemming in part from his commitments to expand social spending. Meanwhile, allies of Mr. Bolsonaro, who control most state governments in the Amazon region as well as 40% of Brazil’s congress, want the new president to focus on job creation rather than forest protection.
The BR-319 highway running from the Amazonian capital of Manaus southwest through the jungle has been improved under the government of Jair Bolsonaro.
Photo:
michael dantas/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Electoral data show that many of these politicians received campaign funding from business interests connected to farming, mining and logging companies that environmentalists say have benefited from the outgoing president’s drive to roll back protections in…
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