Brazil’s victory for the planet and democracy: seven lessons from Lula’s win

A vitória de Lula trouxe apoiadores entusiasmados às ruas em casa e inspirou ativistas no exterior. Fotografia: Andre Coelho/EPA. Ver imagem em tela cheia.

Thank you, Brazil, for demonstrating how the far right can be trounced while protection for the Amazon is strengthened. In a world where nature and democracy appeared to be bleeding out in tandem, voters and forest defenders in this global south powerhouse have shown it is possible to staunch the flow.

This should provide much needed inspiration and, more practically, a playbook for social and environmental movements in other countries facing elections, including the US, Spain and France.

Read moreThe astonishing comeback victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s presidential runoff against his extreme right challenger Flavío Bolsonaro has brought oceans of rapturous supporters on to the streets, while also thrilling conservationists, climate activists and social justice campaigners across the world.

Chegando apenas semanas depois da administração Lula ter anunciado uma queda recorde na destruição da Amazônia e do Cerrado, eles esperam que o Brasil agora possa continuar a alcançar sua meta de zero desmatamento até 2030 e continuar a apoiar uma transição global para longe dos combustíveis fósseis.

That would provide a huge boost to flagging global efforts to stabilise the climate and protect degraded ecosystems. It would also set a remarkable example of leadership by the global south.

Big battles lie ahead. In the Amazon region itself, far-right members of Bolsonaro’s party have won the governorships of seven of the nine states and a large number of municipal mayorships.

Brazil’s congress is now dominated by agribusiness and mining interests that have set the political agenda in recent years, and will push hard to allow more extractivist industries in indigenous lands, expand road-building, privatise rivers, weaken environmental protections and possibly attempt to impeach the president.

In the regional sphere, Lula, alone among the leaders of main South American nations in not aligning with Donald Trump’s so-called Shield of the Americas, will face pressure from Washington to channel critical minerals and other natural resources to the US, rather than selling to China or Europe, or leaving them in the ground.

And, on the planetary level, Brazil faces the threat of accelerating global heating, which is pushing the Amazon ever closer to the point of no return.

View image in fullscreenIndigenous activists protesting at last year’s Cop30 summit in Brazil. Photograph: André Penner/APSo although Sunday’s result will hopefully provide a little breathing space for the Amazon and other crucially important biomes, the joy and hope that Brazil has gifted the world will quickly fade unless it inspires political change in other countries.

In that sense, the biggest environmental impact of Lula’s victory may be the lessons it provides for campaigners elsewhere. Here are some initial takeaways.

Read more1 Politics matter. There is no higher environmental priority than defeating the far right, which is a Trojan horse for extractivist – and often criminal – groups to capture states and erode protections for people, democracy and the environment.

Basta olhar para o aumento de 59,5 % na desflorestação da Amazônia durante o mandato de 2019‑2022 de Jair Bolsonaro – o nível mais alto de qualquer presidência de quatro anos no Brasil.

2% fall during the Lula administration. Over the past year, forest loss was 3,335 sq km, the lowest level since the start of satellite measurements in 1988. And Lula is not, by any means, an environmentalist.

He has approved several destructive projects himself, but he is a people person who listens to the voice of social movements.

2 Don’t give up. Lula was largely written off by the markets and some polls after his first-round defeat. No first-round loser had ever previously come back to win the runoff.

Lula was able to do so by securing an extra 10m votes over three weeks. The energy for this came from the streets and the forests. Social movements organised giant rallies in cities.

In the Amazon, indigenous, riverine and quilombola groups travelled by hours – sometimes days – to reach polling stations by boats or buses.

View image in fullscreenA Lula supporter holds up a mask of Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg at a protest over alleged electoral interference outside the firm’s São Paulo headquarters.

Fotografia: Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images5 Recupere a bandeira. As cores nacionais verde, amarelo e azul do Brasil tinham sido associadas ao movimento de Bolsonaro nas eleições anteriores.

Esta vez, Lula recuperou a posse ao posar em uniforme da seleção nacional de futebol enquanto seu “exército” lançava uma campanha chamada “The green and yellow is ours”.

Antes do dia da votação, milhões de pessoas em todo o Brasil e no mundo – desde líderes indígenas na Amazônia até celebridades de Hollywood e estrelas do futebol europeu – inundaram as redes sociais com imagens de si mesmos nas cores do Brasil, fazendo um sinal de L (para Lula) com o polegar e o dedo mindinho estendidos.

7 Defend sovereignty, democracy and sustainability. Lula and his army called out the interlinked threats posed by the Bolsonaro family’s fealty to Donald Trump (now doubly confirmed by Flávio’s post-election flight to the US).

They highlighted the interlinked threats posed by the obsequience to Trump, Bolsonaro’s desire to change the constitution and his promise to open up exploration of the Amazon and other biomes.

This reflects a global phenomenon. Now that seven of the planetary boundaries essential for the flourishing of life have been breached, more and more people are affected by business activities that make the situation worse by destabilising the climate, damaging ecosystems and polluting the air, soil and rivers.

Isso dificulta que empresas extrativas garantam um mandato social, tornando-as mais inclinadas a quebrar a lei ou apoiar políticas extremas que sobrepõem a democracia.

The former environment minister Marina Silva pulled these threads together during the victory celebrations, saying Brazil had come together against these threats: “Long live the people who emerged from every corner of Brazil to sow hope for a future that is socially just, sovereign, democratic and sustainable.”.