Lula victory in Brazil may have just saved the Amazon rainforest

Latin America’s tilt toward Trump in recent years halted by voters in region’s largest country

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Campaign event for Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, held over the weekend at Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/Lula Official flickr.

The comeback victory of Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is more than just the story of a popular political leader overcoming the odds to win a fourth term as president. It’s a regional lifeline for efforts to fight global warming, particularly in the vital Amazon rainforest.

Under Lula’s leadership in the past few years, deforestation activities in the Amazon basin fell to their lowest levels in four decades, and global investment in regional efforts to conserve forests surged.