Specialists focus on the difficulties the new 2023 administration faces to reach the goal promised by the Bolsonaro administration at COP26 last year. Escalating deforestation rates could keep Brazil from carrying out its promise.

At the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow a year ago (COP 26), Brazil’s Minister of the Environment Joaquim Leite surprised everyone when he announced that Brazil would eliminate illegal deforestation: Deforested areas that did not have authorization for removal of the vegetation registered in IBAMA’s control system in Amazonia by 2028, as well as reduce emissions by 50% by 2030 (read more about this below), ignoring the 73% increase in devastation during the first three years of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration (Liberal Party), according to consolidated data from INPE, the National Institute for Space Research.

However, what happened in the first ten months of 2022—when actions to reduce deforestation should have come into play—were even higher numbers than those from the same period during the three previous years, meaning yet another record year for devastation.