Lula battling Bolsonaro-era record deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon

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Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest reached a record high in February, illustrating the magnitude of the problem facing Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration as it attempts to undo the environmental harm wrought by far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Government satellites showed that a record 322 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest were destroyed in February, a 62% increase over the previous year and the largest monthly total since records began.

Lula, who resumed office on January 1 this year, has promised to put an end to illegal logging, which reached a 15-year high during the Bolsonaro administration.

With the environment ministry once again led by environmentalist Marina Silva, who oversaw a sharp drop in deforestation in the same role during Lula's first term in office, the government has reactivated the Amazon Fund, a key tool for preservation, and recreated a civil society council on the environment, both of which were abandoned under Bolsonaro.

It is worth noting that Lula presided over a sharp drop in deforestation when he previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

Silva has also brushed off and updated a deforestation prevention and control plan that served as the foundation of her effective measures nearly two decades ago.

These are significant milestones, but "innovation is required since the Amazon today is not the same as it was 10, 20 years ago," according to Rômulo Batista, a Greenpeace Brazil representative.

Under the previous administration, crime and violence skyrocketed, as Bolsonaro's contempt for the rainforest and the people who preserve it emboldened criminals of all stripes, including the assassins of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips. Solving the situation would necessitate restoring the workforce of environmental organizations decimated by far-right populists, a process that will take time, according to Batista.

Read more: Bolsonaro blamed for Amazon murder

“The land grabber, the deforester, the illegal miner, they are making the most of this time to rush to cut the forest down,” Batista said.

Following preliminary statistics indicating an increase in destruction in February, Silva told reporters last month that loggers were operating even during the rainy season as a "kind of retribution" against the present government's campaign.

Deforestation rates are normally lower at the beginning of the year because the Amazon rainy season impedes forest clearing and cloud cover makes satellites less likely to detect it. As a result, researchers warned against celebrating a decline in deforestation in January.