Podcast

Explaining Brazil #222: What Bolsonaro has to show for at COP27

Foreign observers were following the Brazilian presidential election due to climate worries. Jair Bolsonaro lost — what climate legacy will he leave behind?

Many foreign observers were rooting for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the presidential election against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. 

For some foreign investors, Lula is a more predictable politician. But the main issue that made people skeptical of Bolsonaro is the climate. For nearly four years, Bolsonaro has consistently chipped away at Brazil’s environmental policies and ability to curb deforestation. 

In European and North American newspapers, journalists described the presidential election as a vote on the future of the planet. Many feared that, should Bolsonaro win, Amazon deforestation would continue until the rainforest was destroyed beyond recovery.

This week, as the UN Climate Conference COP27 kicks off, we will discuss the environmental legacy of Jair Bolsonaro.

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Guest:

  • Ana Paula Prates is a public policy director at the Talanoa Institute, a think tank. She holds a Ph.D. in marine ecology from the University of Brasília and worked as an analyst at the Environment Ministry.

This episode used music from Uppbeat. License codes: FWOIFSYKZXBBOJQU, PKSNKU6YVB4R1GCK, H7LRCMBELYL519NF

Background reading:

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