Four years ago, when Jair Bolsonaro was elected president-elect, scientists across Brazil feared the worst. Bolsonaro, for example, promised to withdraw Brazil from the Paris Climate Accord, dismantle the Ministry of the Environment and reduce the extent of protected areas if he wins. , the president has repeatedly clashed with the Brazilian scientific community, causing lasting damage. For example, he fired government officials who opposed him on issues such as a surge in deforestation and health measures to curb his COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed about 700,000 people so far in Brazil.

Bolsonaro is now seeking a second term, and the Brazilians are heading to vote next week. ahead of the election Nature We focus on Bolsonaro’s impact on science, health and the environment.

Environmental destruction

One of the biggest impacts of current governments is their impact on the environment. Data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has surged since early 2019, and last year he reached the highest level since 2008 (“Deforestation surge”).

This trend started early in the Bolsonaro administration. By mid-2019, INPE reported a sharp increase in deforestation. Without evidence, the president accused the agency of falsifying deforestation data and said he was trying to undermine the government. Bolsonaro fired him shortly after.

Even before he took office, Bolsonaro made his goals clear by vowing to end the country’s environmental fines “industry” and dismantle the environment ministry. His team’s idea was to decentralize that responsibility to other ministries.

Bolsonaro did not explicitly disband the Ministry of Environment, but his administration carried out a plan to “dismantle the ministry from within,” according to the responsible agency, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA). Former chairman Suley Araujo says: For his monitoring and fines of violations of Brazilian environmental laws.

The president has fulfilled his promise regarding fines. In January, Bolsonaro celebrated an 80% reduction in IBAMA fines for rural real estate.

“The result is an explosion in deforestation rates, wildcat mining, encroachment on public lands, and subsequent major social conflicts,” said Climate Observatory, a coalition of climate change and climate change-focused organizations. says Araujo, a public policy expert at environment.

Illegal mining in Amazon hits record high amid indigenous protests

In 2021, the Yanomami Indigenous Territory of Roraima state saw a 46% year-on-year increase in illegal mining, according to a report by the Hutzukara Yanomami Association, an advocacy group representing the Yanomami people in Brazil. The federal prosecutor’s office in Roraima has asked a federal court to force the central government to take action against a mining operation that threatens the region’s indigenous peoples and creates what the prosecutor’s office calls a “humanitarian crisis.” .

Critics of the Bolsonaro government argue that lax enforcement of environmental laws has led to a large increase in forest fires. By August 2019, just months after Bolsonaro became president, INPE reported that the number of fires had surged by more than 80% compared to the year before. Bolsonaro suggested that environmentalists may have set the fire, but local media reported that the farmers who coordinated the arson felt their actions were endorsed by the president.

Mercedes Bustamante, ecological ecologist at the University of Brasilia and author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, said: “Such demolition can result in ecosystem destruction and irreparable damage.”

Bolsonaro’s office did not respond Naturerequest for comment.

budget free fall

The government has also drastically cut back on scientific research. The total science and technology budget approved by the Ministry of Science in 2021 was effectively the lowest in at least two decades, according to figures compiled by the Brazilian Association for the Promotion of Science (SBPC) in São Paulo. cliff’).

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation funds institutions such as INPE and the National Council for Science and Technology Development (CNPq) that provide grants for research, equipment and materials. Another important source of support for science is the Ministry of Education. A grant from a foundation called the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) sponsors training for new researchers.

In 2020 and 2021, combined CNPq and CAPES subsidies were around R$3.5 billion (US$680 million) per year, the lowest since 2009. Two agencies compared to Bolsonaro administration (2019–22), 2015–18.

According to SBPC President Renato Janine Ribeiro, the problem doesn’t stop there. “In addition to budget cuts, campaigns are underway to try to demoralize public higher education, culture and public health,” says Ribeiro, Brazil’s former minister of education.

Bolsonaro has criticized Brazilian universities, “spreading lies that public universities are places of sex, anarchy and chaos,” says Ribeiro. In 2019, Bolsonaro attacked their quality, saying most students would “do anything but study.”

Public universities are struggling to make ends meet. Some businesses are likely to run short of funds to pay bills and payroll costs this month or next, and “may be forced to close, even temporarily,” Ribeiro said. .

health crisis

Isabella Soares Santos, a health policy researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation’s Brazilian National School of Public Health in Rio de Janeiro, said one of the major challenges Brazil will face in the next few years is the COVID-19 pandemic. said to be the aftermath of

Many health experts say Bolsonaro and his policies have significantly exacerbated the damage COVID-19 has done to Brazil. When the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spread around the world in early 2020, Bolsonaro dismissed the danger, calling it a “little flu” or a “fantasy”. and promoted the use of treatments that have been shown to be ineffective against COVID-19, such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. He also ignored scientific advice from researchers and public health officials and dismissed his Health Minister Luis Henrique Mandetta in April 2020. He advocated measures such as physical distancing to slow the spread of the virus.

Scientists upset as Brazilian government withdraws research funding

Among other actions, in March 2020, Bolsonaro signed an order to include churches and lottery retailers as essential services. These services should not be interrupted by operational restrictions set primarily at the state and city levels.

Santos says President Bolsonaro’s rejection of protective measures in favor of ineffective solutions has paved the way for a rise in COVID-19 deaths in Brazil. Brazil is one of the countries with the highest number of deaths relative to its population size.

But the problem goes deeper. “The virus exacerbates existing chronic illnesses and causes other conditions, such as her COVID, that are long lasting,” she says. “We are all paying this bill and this is a problem that the next government will have to tackle head-on. It will take years to rebuild what has been damaged,” says Santos.