The world’s largest tropical rainforest that serves as a “critical counterweight to climate change” is under threat of complete destruction following the strong electoral performance of a far-right ally to President Donald Trump, one legal expert and former Democratic lawmaker warned Monday.
Flávio Bolsonaro is a Brazilian politician and presidential candidate who “outperformed expectations” Sunday in the nation’s first-round presidential election, sending him into a runoff against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He is also the son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, another Trump ally who’s serving a 27-year sentence for his role in an attempted coup after his election loss in 2022.
“A Bolsonaro win — aided by Trump and Big Tech billionaires — will be the likely end of the Amazon, the lungs of the earth,” warned Aaron Regunberg, a Rhode Island activist, lawyer and former state lawmaker. “If you have young kids, you are watching them get locked into an extremely dangerous future. You’re not mad enough at the fascists and their collaborators.”
From 2019 to 2022, Jair Bolsonaro oversaw a 60% increase in Amazon deforestation, with more than 17,400 square miles of forest cleared, according to the Associated Press. Conversely, Lula oversaw a 45% decrease in deforestation. With Jair Bolsonaro’s son, Flávio Bolsonaro, heading into the runoff with a narrow lead, conservation experts feared another Bolsonaro administration could cause devastation for the vital ecosystem.
“The risk we face is that Brazil could move away from a positive environmental agenda toward a position more similar to the one now adopted by the United States — one of climate denial,” said Márcio Astrini, the executive director of the Climate Observatory, speaking with the Associated Press.
Taciana Stec, who works as a climate policy specialist at the Brazilian think tank Talanoa, suggested that even Brazil’s existing laws governing the Amazon would not be able to stop deforestation under another Bolsonaro administration.
“Given his long history of advocating weaker environmental protections, there is concern that activities now considered illegal could simply be legalized and no longer subject to enforcement,” Stec told the Associated Press.
A Bolsonaro win — aided by Trump and Big Tech billionaires — will be the likely end of the Amazon, the lungs of the earth. If you have young kids, you are watching them get locked into an extremely dangerous future.You’re not mad enough at the fascists and their collaborators.
— Aaron Regunberg (@AaronRegunberg) October 5, 2026