Lula re-elected president of Brazil amid record-low Amazon deforestation

Election victory and environmentalists' reaction

Brazil's incumbent president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been re-elected to a historic fourth term: he received about 51.8% of the vote against 48.2% for right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, with a margin of roughly 4.4 million votes. This is reported by Euronews. Environmental advocates saw the outcome as a victory for democracy and the Amazon: they had feared that under Bolsonaro environmental protections would be weakened, as under his father, whose presidency from 2019 to 2023 was marked by the dismantling of environmental policy and a roughly 60% rise in deforestation — more than 45,000 square kilometers of forest were cleared. Greenpeace Brazil said the result

Record-low deforestation and its causes

Since Lula's return to power in 2023, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen by 71% from 2022 levels, and by 42% in the last year alone, reaching its lowest level since satellite monitoring began in 1988. The progress is attributed to the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm), which was effectively suspended under Jair Bolsonaro and reinstated under Lula. The plan includes enhanced satellite monitoring of illegal logging, enforcement of sanctions, as well as regulatory measures and financial incentives for sustainable forestry. Under the current government, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility has also been launched — a mechanism in which investors reward countries for preserving forests, but, according to Mighty Earth founder Glenn Hurowitz, it needs more capital. The Amazon's importance extends beyond Brazil: its biomes hold about 15% of the world's biodiversity, the forest stores vast amounts of carbon dioxide and generates moisture that influences weather far beyond South America.

Limits of the new term

Lula's victory is clouded by two circumstances. First, Flávio Bolsonaro stated that he does not recognize the election result and will challenge it in court, citing a Supreme Court decision to extend voting by two hours at the last minute. Second, despite Lula's victory, his rival achieved a major success in the National Congress: from February 2027, Bolsonaro's Liberal Party will control 121 of 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 28 of 81 in the Senate, while Lula's Workers' Party federation will hold 88 seats in the Chamber. The decisive say in passing laws will remain with center-right parties. Greenpeace Brazil notes the