Lula heads into the election with lower Amazon deforestation

08.08.2026 08:01 HotInfo

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is entering the October campaign with new figures showing a decline in Amazon deforestation. According to satellite data, 2,874 square kilometers of forest were destroyed between August 2025 and July 2026, which is 37 percent less than in the previous period and the lowest level since 2016. hnonline.sk ↗

The decline in deforestation adds to the political context ahead of the election, in which the eighty-year-old Lula is seeking a fourth term. The Workers' Party formally nominated him at a convention in São Paulo before roughly 3,000 supporters. Lula returned to power in 2023 after two previous terms from 2003 to 2010. NOS ↗

His main rival will be Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was nominated by the Liberal Party. The campaign will therefore be strongly shaped by Jair Bolsonaro's political legacy and by the renewed contest between the left-wing camp around Lula and the Bolsonaro right. Le Monde ↗

The election is also taking place amid security and diplomatic tensions. Brazilian police are investigating eight people suspected of planning attacks in the capital during the scheduled elections, although the case is not being treated as terrorism for now. The United States has also revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador in Washington, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, in response to Brazil's handling of the approval of the American nominee for ambassador to Brazil. hnonline.sk ↗

The next phase of the campaign will show whether Lula can combine the environmental results of his government with a political defense of his mandate at a time of domestic tension and disputes with the United States. El Mundo ↗

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