Despite the absurdly poor behaviour, the ridiculous name-calling, one of the worst ways of handling covered in the world and a determined attack on on the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people that live there, it may well be his attack on the supreme court that ends the horror show show of the Bolsonaro presidency.
For any regular readers of this blog, you will have noticed that I have followed the presidential moves of Jair Bolsonaro over the last few years.
Many people might argue that it doesn’t matter; like trump’s presidency in the USA, the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro will only last one term and be an aberration.
The problem is that many of the decisions he’s made could take decades to undo. After a fight lasting decades to slow the deforestation rate, Bolsonaro has reversed this progress.
Other people might argue that is not our business – the people that Brazil voted for this president and therefore it’s up to them. However there are several problems with this.
- Through intimidation and other moves there is no way to suggest the Bolsonaro victory was truly a countrywide preference for his policies. Indeed he has generally been negative for all Brazilians not descended from European settlers
- The survival of the amazonian rainforest is essential for the rest of the world. The loss of the Brazilian rainforest would likely mean the death for the rest of it, as the size reduces the ability of the forest to regulate rainfall. Not only does the Amazon rainforest store vast quantities of carbon that would otherwise be released into the air and locker scene to an unacceptable levels temperature rise, the forest also regulates the rain in parts of Africa and elsewhere in the world.
- Many species would either be completely lost through the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, or have their numbers so depleted that extinction is the likely follower. There are likely many other benefits within the rainforest that we do not know about such as medicines.
I for one, hope that on this occasion he has overstepped the mark. Many of the stupid moves made in the run-up to his election, should have ended his career.
We cannot afford to take our eye off what is going on in Brazil, the future of the planet relies on us halting deforestation in South America Africa and Asia, and indeed reversing much of the loss. It frankly seems peculiar, that in a time when so much as a planet needs reforesting, there are so many carbon offset schemes that don’t actually offset carbon.