Amazon Rainforest: Brazil’s Lula Announces Plan to Stop Deforestation by 2030

The Brazilian government has unveiled the fifth phase of an Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm) — Earth’s largest tropical rainforest — by 2030. First launched in 2004, the new phase of the PPCDAm will combat environmental crimes with bolstered law enforcement, among other strategies, reported Reuters.

In 2021, while Jair Bolsonaro was still president, Brazil signed on to a pact with more than 140 nations to eliminate global deforestation by 2030. Bolsonaro’s successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has made the commitment a focal point of the government’s environmental agenda.

“Brazil will once again become a global reference in sustainability, tackling climate change, and achieving targets for carbon emission reduction and zero deforestation,” Lula said in a speech on World Environment Day in the country’s capital of Brasília, as Politico reported.

Brazil is the sixth-largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, according to Climate Watch, nearly half of which come from deforestation. But Lula’s administration has promised to achieve net zero deforestation by increasing the country’s commitments to reduce emissions at the rate promised during the Paris Agreement in 2015 — slashing them by 37 percent by 2025 and by 43 percent by 2030, reported Politico.

Included in the new plan is an increase of 4,400 acres to be set aside for conservation, not seen as nearly enough by environmentalists.

Lula said the Brazilian government would designate more conservation units, following more studies and arrangements with state governments.

“I’m committed to resuming Brazil’s global leadership in mitigating climate change and controlling deforestation,” Lula said in the speech, as reported by Reuters.

The Action Plan presents a synchronized policy between multiple ministries until Lula’s term ends in 2027.

The plan will utilize land title regularization and employ satellite imagery and intelligence to follow criminal activities, as well as monitor forest management through a rural registry.

For instance, cash payments for equipment used in logging or gold mining can be tracked using financial intelligence.

Economic incentives for sustainable management of forests and conservation will be used to increase native vegetation and help degraded forests recover, according to the plan.

The Action Plan envisions creating a system to trace agricultural products that come from the Amazon, like livestock and wood, to show that they are not coming from deforested lands.

Additionally, the plan aims to develop a sustainable green economy in the region to include ecotourism, forest product certification and arrangements for infrastructure, internet connectivity and electricity.

The government also wants to tackle illegal hunting, fishing, mining and logging on Indigenous lands, in conservation areas and in the entirety of the Amazon region.

“Mainly because of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil is largely responsible for the world’s climate balance. That is why stopping deforestation in the Amazon is also a way to reduce global warming. I know the size of the challenge of ending deforestation by 2030, but this is a challenge we are determined to achieve,” Lula said, according to Democracy Now!