Environmentalists are asking Lula to veto oil production in the Amazon

As for the vote in Ecuador last Sunday that saw the majority decide to stop exploiting oil from block 43 in Yasuní, a group of environmental activists wants Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to give up his desire to extract crude oil in the Amazon.

As early as the month of May, Brazil’s president promoted an investment plan that includes the exploration of crude oil near the mouth of the Amazon.

Although the left-wing president presents himself as a champion of the fight against climate change, he also wants to grow the economy with a strategy that his critics call outdated, by betting on fossil fuels.

“We hope that the Brazilian government will take Ecuador as an example,” said Marcio Astrini, director of the Climate Observatory, a coalition of environmental groups.

Brazil is home to 60% of the world’s largest tropical forest and should “release the oil from the mouth of the subterranean Amazon,” he said in a statement.

Lula also came under pressure at an Amazon summit this month to emulate Colombia, whose president Gustavo Petro has vowed to end oil exploration. But the meeting in the Brazilian city of Belém ended without any commitment.

Lula’s “dream”

On Monday, hours after the result of the Ecuadorian referendum was announced, Brazil’s presidency sent out a statement promoting plans to invest 335 billion reais ($69 billion) in the oil and gas sector over the next few years.

Plans include state oil company Petrobras exploring the “block FZA-M-59”, near the Amazon’s mouth in the Atlantic Ocean, off the country’s northern coast.

Lula, who returned to power in January and pledged to protect the Amazon after four years of escalating destruction under far-right Jair Bolsonaro, has defended the project, saying he “dreams” about extracting oil from the Amazon Bay.

The case has sparked fierce controversy in Brazil, including within the government.

While the environmental protection organization IBAMA denied Petrobras an exploration permit on the grounds of a lack of environmental studies, the attorney general said on Tuesday these were “not essential” and called for a “reconciliation process”.

“You can’t have ‘reconciliation’, it’s technical facts,” said Environment Minister Marina Silva.

nefarious plan

The project has sparked protests from environmentalists, indigenous groups and residents of Marajó, the island in the heart of the estuary.

Critics say the extraction could be catastrophic for a region known for its mangrove forests, wildlife, fishing communities and connection to the rainforest.

“Most of the planet is suffering the consequences of turning nature into wealth,” said local indigenous leader Naraguassu, 60, whose people, the Caruana, believe the place where the Amazon meets the Atlantic Ocean is sacred.

“Temperatures are rising. Earth is telling us something is wrong,” he told AFP.

Luis Barbosa of the Marajó Observatory, a human rights organization organizing protests against the project, stressed that rising sea levels due to global warming threaten places like the Amazon estuary.

“Continued to burn fossil fuels endangers the survival of the island of Marajó,” he said.

– “Energy limit” –

Petrobras, in turn, emphasizes that the project will “open an important energy frontier” and contribute to a “sustainable energy transition”.

He notes that the proposed exploration site is over 300 miles from the mouth of the Amazon.

Brazil, the eighth largest oil producer in the world, is already self-sufficient in oil, said Suely Araújo, senior government policy specialist at the Climate Observatory.

“We are in a climate crisis. There is simply no reason to push for oil in sensitive areas,” he told AFP.

As director of IBAMA between 2016 and 2019, Araújo has rejected five oil exploration permits in the same region for similar reasons.

She welcomes the Lula government’s approach to climate change, but is disappointed with its position on fossil fuels.

“The great contradiction of the Lula administration is oil,” says Araújo. (JO)

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