Editing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (section)

=== Environment ===
[[File:1988- Deforestation rates in Brazil - Terra Brasilis.svg|thumb|left|Brazil's deforestation rate declined during Lula's time in office, and reversed under Bolsonaro<ref name=Axios_20221031>{{cite web|last1=Freedman|first1=Andrew|title=Bolsonaro's defeat is a climate turning point|url=https://www.axios.com/2022/10/31/brazil-lula-bolsonaro-climate-election|website=Axios|date=31 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031134834/https://www.axios.com/2022/10/31/brazil-lula-bolsonaro-climate-election |archive-date=31 October 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=TerraBrasilis_1988>{{cite web|title=Taxas de desmatamento (Deforestation rates)|url=http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br/app/dashboard/deforestation/biomes/legal_amazon/rates|website=TerraBrasilis |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241211053835/https://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br/app/dashboard/deforestation/biomes/legal_amazon/rates |archive-date=11 December 2024 |date=2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Initially, Lula's administration pushed for progressive policies that significantly curbed deforestation in the Amazon. Despite this, he did not support legislation that would have required the country to phase out its fossil fuels.

In May 2008, environmental minister [[Marina Silva]] resigned, blamed "stagnation" in the government, after she lost disagreements with Lula when she opposed approval of new [[hydroelectric dam]]s in the Amazon and criticized Lula's [[biofuels]] programme.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/americas/16brazil.html|title='Stagnation' Made Brazil's Environment Chief Resign|first=Alexei|last=Barrionuevo|date=16 May 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=3 March 2024|archive-date=3 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303091020/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/americas/16brazil.html|url-status=live}}</ref>  Dr. Daniel Nepstad of the [[Woods Hole Research Center|Woods Hole Research Centre]] said the growing demand for biofuels may ultimately result in more Amazon deforestation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.mongabay.com/2009/07/smart-biofuels-that-dont-hurt-people-or-the-environment-are-possible/|title=Smart biofuels that don't hurt people or the environment are possible|date=16 July 2009|website=Mongabay Environmental News}}</ref> In particular, environmentalists warn that while biofuels reduce emissions of [[greenhouse gas]]es, they may well also trigger a significant expansion of the biofuel crops; that, in turn, may push agriculture deeper into forests, destroying habitat and [[biodiversity]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://ecoa.org.br/biofuel-boom-sparks-environmental-fears/|title=Biofuel Boom Sparks Environmental Fears|first=Gleidson|last=Cesar|newspaper=Ecoa|date=16 October 2006|access-date=4 March 2024|archive-date=4 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240304003852/https://ecoa.org.br/biofuel-boom-sparks-environmental-fears/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:The Belo Monte Dam - the costs.png|thumb| ]]
The creation of conservation areas and indigenous reserves led to a decrease of around 75% in deforestation starting in 2004.<ref>[https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/sites/successfulsocieties/files/RJ_NORAD_BrazilFederal.pdf Reducing Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, 2003–2012] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003152035/https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/sites/successfulsocieties/files/RJ_NORAD_BrazilFederal.pdf |date=3 October 2022 }}, Princeton University, 2015</ref> In Lula's first year in office, in 2003–04, 25,000 [[square kilometer]]s of Brazilian forest were destroyed, the second-worst devastation since 1977.<ref name="auto32">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yfdiDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22lula%22+deforestation+before:2012&pg=PA143 | isbn=978-1-84813-355-6 | title=Lula of Brazil: The Story So Far | date=21 November 2008 | publisher=Zed Books }}</ref> In late 2006, the Instituto Soicioambiental environmental group said that deforestation in Lula's first four years had been worse than in any four-year period since 1988.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wyX_uba-o0C&dq=%22lula%22+deforestation+before:2012&pg=PA31|title=Global Environmental Governance|first=James Gustave Speth And Peter M.|last=Haas|date=8 September 2007|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-0922-1 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="auto32"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=08OV704armMC&dq=%22lula%22+deforestation+before:2012&pg=PA1410|title=Encyclopedia of the Developing World|first=Thomas M.|last=Leonard|date=8 December 2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-97664-0 |via=Google Books}}</ref> By 2009, Brazil's Amazon destruction—though lower—was still about 7,000 square kilometers a year, larger than the US state of [[Delaware]].<ref name="auto29">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/27/lula-gringos-pay-protect-amazon|title=Brazilian president says 'gringos' must pay to protect Amazon|agency=Associated Press|date=27 November 2009|work=The Guardian}}</ref> Critics said, however, that Brazil's lowest rate of deforestation in 2009 was a function of the [[2008 financial crisis]].<ref name="auto30">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-in-tricky-balancing-act-to-fight-climate-change/a-5683798|title=Brazilian dilemma |date=15 June 2010|website=DW}}</ref> Paulo Adario of [[Greenpeace]] said that it was a function not of efforts to protect the climate, but of the fact that the "demand for beef, soya and wood ha[d] dramatically fallen".<ref name="auto30"/>

In 2009, Lula gave a speech in which he said that "gringos" should pay Amazon nations to prevent deforestation.<ref name="auto29"/>

In February 2010, Lula's government approved the construction of a controversial hydroelectric mega [[Belo Monte Dam]] in the middle of the Amazon rain forest in the Brazilian state of [[Pará]].<ref name="auto30"/> It was to be the third-largest hydroelectric dam in the world.<ref name="auto30"/> Environmental activists protested the building of the dam.<ref name="auto30"/> It was expected to cause a significant decline in the [[water table]], resulting in significant losses of aquatic and terrestrial [[fauna]], and adversely impact [[aquatic mammal]]s.<ref name="auto33">{{Cite web|url=https://nacla.org/article/brazil%E2%80%99s-native-peoples-and-belo-monte-dam-case-study|title=Brazil's Native Peoples and the Belo Monte Dam: A Case Study|website=NACLA}}</ref>  Approximately 20,000-40,000 indigenous people were to be resettled with little or no compensation, and 516 square kilometers (199 square miles) of rain forest were to be flooded for the dam's construction.<ref name="auto30"/><ref name="auto33"/>