The Election of Bolsonaro is Bad for the Environment: Nature

This week, the British scientific journal Nature published an editorial positioning itself against the reelection of the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

RELATED:

Milestones in the Political Career of Lula Da Silva

Nature points out that the permanence of this far-right politician in power represents a serious threat to Brazilian ecosystems and global ecological processes.

"A populist and a former army captain, Bolsonaro charged into office denying science, threatening Indigenous peoples’ rights, promoting guns as a solution to security concerns, and pushing a development-at-all-costs approach to the economy," Nature recalled.

"Bolsonaro has been true to his word about him. His term in office has been disastrous for science, the environment, the people of Brazil — and the world," it added.

"Under his leadership, the environment has been ravaged as he rolled back legal protections and disparaged Indigenous peoples' rights. In the Amazon alone, deforestation has nearly doubled since 2018," Nature said.

"There's only one choice in Brazil's election — for the country and the world," it stressed, making a tacit reference to the need to stop the Bolsonaro-backed environmental destruction. And this diagnosis is far from being alarmist.

Currently, water flows in the Amazon basin are rapidly declining due to drought, a process that affects 62 municipalities in the state of Amazonas in Brazil.

According to the Civil Defense, 41 municipalities are on alert, 3 municipalities are in a state of emergency and 18 municipalities have water supply problems. Climate change is literally destroying people's livelihoods.

"The drought is very great and the boats are stranded. There is no way to go fishing," said 73-year-old artisanal fisherman Manoel Andrade de Araujo.