In Brazil’s election Sunday, President Jair Bolsonaro could be voted out. Here’s what that means for the rainforest.
The Amazon rainforest is at a crossroads.
Down one path, deforestation continues to accelerate, pushing the iconic forest closer to a dangerous, self-destructing tipping point. On the other, Brazil’s government renews its efforts to protect the Amazon, conserving an enormous amount of biodiversity and carbon.
This weekend, Brazilian voters will help decide which direction the forest takes. On Sunday, the country is holding a presidential election, and the two frontrunners — right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and former leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — are expected to take vastly different approaches to the nation’s most beloved ecosystem.
Polls this week show “Lula,” as he is widely known, with a large lead. If neither Bolsonaro nor Lula receives at least 50 percent of the vote Sunday, the election will go to a runoff at the end of October.
