President Joe Biden has a lengthy climate change to-do list: Amid rising global temperatures, more frequent and extreme weather events, and the rapid loss of nature, there is little time to lose. Biden reflected this urgency in the first days of his presidency, in the content of his executive order (EO) on the climate crisis, issued in late January 2021. Among the highest international environmental priorities in this EO is setting a climate strategy on the Amazon, which—in addition to its pivotal role in any global solution to the climate crisis—serves as an important element of a U.S. strategy toward South America. The stakes are high: A stable and vibrant Amazon could continue to absorb about 5 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions, offsetting roughly the equivalent of all greenhouse gas emissions from Russia, the world’s fifth-largest emitter. Reducing deforestation rates would also address a major emissions source, as cutting down and burning forests in Brazil emitted 952 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019, equal to the annual emissions from 245 coal-fired power plants.
The situation is dire, especially in the Brazilian Amazon. In office for just two years, far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has overseen an aggressive assault on the country’s long-standing legal and institutional protections for the Amazon and its Indigenous communities. Several examples of the change in trajectory include:
- Surging annual deforestation…
