Long story made short: apparently, the previous administration didn’t really try (since it was Bolsonaro’s, I am not surprised). EU import controls and financial interventions have also helped:
He believes the slowdown is due to a combination of factors: the resumption of embargoes and other protection activities by the government, improved technical analysis that reveal where problems are occurring more quickly and in more detail, greater involvement by banks to deny credit to landowners involved in clearing trees, and also wariness among farmers generated by the European Union’s new laws on deforestation-free trade. It may be no coincidence that deforestation has not fallen as impressively in the cerrado savanna, which is not yet covered by the EU’s controls.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The results will bolster Lula, Marina and other Brazilian hosts of an Amazon summit designed to strengthen regional cooperation that will take place in Belém on 8-9 August with the participation of eight rainforest nations: Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname.
Silva said the acute threat of the climate crisis, which has brought record heat to many South American countries, meant the summit had to be more than a show of unity; it needed to produce concrete and continuous results to ensure the Amazon did not reach a point where it starts to dry up and die off, which scientists have warned is drawing closer.
She has proposed that each country produces an action plan, that they jointly create a scientific panel to keep them updated with the latest data, and that they share best practices to achieve the three goals of the summit: protection of the forest and traditional peoples, and to combat inequality and strengthen democracy.
Silva hopes the improvement can be a springboard for a new cycle of prosperity in the Amazon and beyond, based on a sustainable use of resources, open markets to certified products, the development of a bioeconomy and greater financial support from wealthy countries that benefit from the rainforest’s role as a climate stabiliser and rainmaker.
She faces an additional challenge from the El Niño, which has brought horrifying temperatures of 38.9C to the Chilean Andes in mid-winter, desperate water shortages to Uruguay and monthly heat records in several parts of Brazil.
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