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In his victory speech on October 25th night, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) promised, in his fourth term, a new way of governing. By this, he meant he would seek more active communication with the streets, building on the success of the digital and mobilization strategy in the second round. I wonder if the new term could also represent an opportunity to innovate in the economy and environment.Could we deepen a socio-environmental project that protects our biomes and benefits indigenous peoples?
In Lula's candidacy, reducing deforestation, combating climate change, and protecting indigenous rights were present. In stark contrast to the openly harmful project of bolsonarism, which denied indigenous territory demarcation rights and promised to dismantle environmental legislation. Journalists and activists who analyzed the government programs of PT and PL candidates found hundreds of mentions of socio-environmental themes in the petist's case and almost none in Flávio Bolsonaro's proposals.
Therefore, I believe that from January 2027, there are possibilities for advances in executive power policies. The trajectory of reducing deforestation positions Brazil as a leader in the ecological transition. Everything indicates that it will be possible to end illegal clear-cutting in the Amazon by 2030. The path may be a little longer in the Cerrado, where industrial agriculture is most profitable. To stop destruction in this biome, it will be necessary to rethink financial incentives, such as agricultural credits, or even sanction private properties that persist in destroying to produce.
However, there is a deeper and longer-term path. A political and territorial articulation that draws inspiration from the community models and nature management of indigenous peoples.
The phrase "The future is ancestral" became popular from the thinker and writer Ailton Krenak, the first indigenous person elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters. In his book of the same name, published in 2022, he brings a message of hope by pointing out that the future does not need to be apocalyptic, as the solution to how to live in harmony on this planet is already among us.Contrary to the notion of Western progress, which turns nature into a mere resource, indigenous thinking views the land, forests, and rivers as living entities, our oldest relatives in this world.
Krenak popularized the concept, but the sense of community and respect for Mother Nature is something we observe in many indigenous cultures. When we hear that prominent leaders like Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa warn us of the risks of unleashing malevolent spirits by destroying the forest, it's easy to understand the violence of mining invasions in their territory.
This worldview, so distinct from capitalist economics, has tangible consequences for all of us. The demarcation of indigenous lands, a right guaranteed to indigenous peoples in the 1988 Constitution, has allowed vast stretches of native ecosystems in the Amazon, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, and Pantanal to be conserved to this day. There is a hundred scientific studies demonstrating that indigenous-managed areas are in better condition than undemarcated lands.
In addition to these evidence of the effectiveness of indigenous territories in conservation strategies, we have a very important study led by researchers from the tropical ecology group at the Serrapilheira Institute, which was able to calculate the economic contribution of indigenous lands to the agrobusiness sector.
The connection between forest, rainfall, and crops
This connection is precisely through the relationship between the forest and rainfall: the humidity from so-called flying rivers nourishes the crops in the Central-West and South regions of the country. According toa technical note published in December 2024, rainfall from indigenous lands in the Amazon supplied 80% of the country's agricultural activity, generating R$ 338 billion in 2021, or 57% of the total revenue.
The same researchers, along with other prominent figures such as José Marengo, the current director of the National Center for Monitoring Natural Disasters, also published in 2024an articlein the journal Naturedemonstrating that indigenous lands are essential to prevent the environmental collapse of the Amazon, known as the point of no return.
At this critical stage, the forests would cease to absorb carbon in useful quantities for climate balance. Becoming drier due to numerous wildfires and heat, the world's largest tropical rainforest would no longer be the provider of essential rainfall.
For this reason, public policies that recognize the importance of indigenous lands for the well-being of the entire nation are increasingly urgent. Lula, along with Minister Marina Silva, successfully created the Amazon Fund in 2008, attracting resources from foreign governments and investing in the maintenance and protection of indigenous territories.
I reinforce what I said a few weeks ago when I argued that forest peoples are united against the extreme right. The community spirit that historically allowed political mobilization in defense of land rights against invaders, illegal miners, and garimpeiros, is the same that united against the proposal to hand over Brazil to land grabbers.
To learn more
Since we are discussing indigenous knowledge, I would like to recommend reading the special issue "Managing the World" published in this month's edition of the Piauí magazine and reproduced in an interactive version on their website.
This work shows how Indigenous Environmental Management Agents (AIMAs) from the indigenous lands of Alto Rio Negro operate. Through diaries about weather conditions and observations of fauna and flora, these indigenous researchers provide an incredibly comprehensive representation of the environment and its transformations.