Brazil’s presidential election could have grave consequences for the planet

[TomSea]

Brazil’s presidential election could have grave consequences for the planet
Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right newly elected president of Brazil, could eradicate the countries’ rainforests

As the vast Brazilian rainforest steadily dwindles, so do our chances of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And with the possible election of Jair Bolsonaro, the so-called “Trump of the Tropics” and far-right frontrunner in the Brazilian presidential election, a crucial part of the planet’s carbon emission-curbing toolkit might be in jeopardy.

Bolsonaro has indicated he may open Indigenous areas up to mining, even potentially introducing a paved highway through the Amazon. The environmental impact of those policies would be “the biggest threat to the Amazon since Brazil was under a dictatorship,” said Doug Boucher, Scientific Advisor for The Union of Concerned Scientists’ Tropical Forests and Climate Initiative. “It’s a threat to the climate of the entire planet.”

From 2005 to 2012, Brazil’s forests were doing alright. Deforestation decreased by about two thirds under the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration — from 20,000 kilometers per year before Lula was elected to about 6,000 square kilometers per year. Since then, deforestation has basically remained at the same comparatively low levels, reducing Brazil’s CO2 emissions by more than half, according to Boucher.

Read more at: https://www.salon.com/2018/10/12/brazils-presidential-election-could-have-grave-consequences-for-the-planet_partner/

Get that out of the way, Salon is leftist and sometimes vicious but they get this from the Grist.... I am concerned about the rainforests at that. This still could be alarmist in nature that I don't know the whole story.

[mountaineer]

Balderdash.
If I knew how to say it in Portuguese, I would.