If indigenous people and the Amazon have any hope of protection, Brazil has to impose a strict ban on deforestation

Any trade deal with the Bolsonaro regime has to be conditional on at least five emergency measures to stop rainforest destruction and the killing of its peoples, write Marcio Astrini and Sonia Guajajara

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In 1988, an extreme burning season in the Amazon rainforest made news worldwide and created unprecedented international pressure on the Brazilian government. A scorching North American summer and a landmark hearing in the US Senate fuelled media concerns with the climate crisis – and the clearing of the Amazon was already seen as a key source of emissions. Calls for a boycott were rife, and multilateral banks threatened to suspend loans to development projects. Brazil reacted by launching an ambitious satellite monitoring program and creating a federal environmental agency.

Three decades later, the fate of the world’s biggest tropical forest is again the reason for global alarm. Deforestation soared by 34 per cent in 2019 – the biggest jump in this century – and preliminary official data points to a similar increase in 2020. The 2019 fire season, boosted by increased clear-cutting, put Brazil in the centre of an international crisis. This year’s fire season is off to a hot start, with a drought that could make it even worse than last year’s if nothing is done. As a result, retailers are threatening to boycott Brazilian products and some of the world’s biggest investment funds are on the verge of divesting from Brazil.