The world’s largest rainforest has continually set new records for deforestation under the watch of Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who has weakened environmental protections since he took office in 2019.
Since then, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased by 75 percent compared to the previous decade.
Bolsonaro has rejected the criticism, insisting that Brazil “protects its forests much better than Europe”.
But Indigenous rights advocates in Brazil have denounced the Bolsonaro government for the wave of destruction, as well as for increased threats across the Amazon region.
A study from earlier this year showed that the demarcation of Indigenous territory in Brazil has acted as a barrier against deforestation over the past three decades – but rights groups say Bolsonaro’s administration has stalled the land protection process.
The Indigenous Missionary Council, a group affiliated with the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, recorded 305 cases of “possessory invasions, illegal exploitation of resources and damage to property” on Indigenous territories last year.
That is up from 109 such incidents in 2018, the year before Bolsonaro took office – a 180 percent increase.
Meanwhile, as Brazilians prepare to cast their ballots on October 2, concerns are mounting that Bolsonaro could refuse to accept the election results.
For months, Bolsonaro has sought to sow distrust in Brazil’s electronic voting system, saying without evidence that it is vulnerable to fraud.
That claim has been slammed by legal experts and critics, who accuse Bolsonaro of pushing false electoral fraud claims in order to reject the results, similarly to former United States President Donald Trump, who the Brazilian president has emulated.
Most opinion polls have predicted that Bolsonaro will lose the election to his left-wing rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
