"The next president’s policies on deforestation will come at a critical moment for the rainforest’s survival."
"Brazilians filling out presidential ballots earlier this month saw three-term incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pitted against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Environmental observers saw something else: a referendum on the future of the Amazon rainforest.
“We are very serious about the risks for the Amazon if Flávio wins the election, because he is a climate denier,” said Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist currently at the University of São Paulo’s Institute for Advanced Studies. “If this candidate is elected, certainly deforestation in the Amazon will increase. We are in a very serious situation.”
Flávio Bolsonaro, son of imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro, is campaigning on an agribusiness-friendly, deregulatory agenda. In the first round of voting, he finished 2.2 million votes ahead of Lula. With neither candidate securing the requisite 50 percent needed to be declared the winner outright, the two will head to a runoff on October 25."
Clayton Aldern reports for Grist October 15, 2026, co-published with Agência Pública.
