“This is a long struggle and unfortunately Chico Mendes, sister Dorothy [Stang]Dom Phillips, Bruno and all who have fallen as part of this fight [are no longer with us],” said Silva, who also honored indigenous and environmental activists killed during Bolsonaro’s four-year rule. Lula, who has managed to dramatically reduce deforestation during his two-year rule, said Brazil would once again take a leading role in fighting the climate crisis and was open to international cooperation to protect the environment. Lula is expected to send a high-level delegation to next month’s Cop27 climate summit in Egypt. “When an indigenous child is murdered because of the greed of environmental predators, part of humanity dies,” Lula added. Marcio Astrini, head of an NGO umbrella group called Climate Observatory, said he was heartened by Lula’s message. “But you have to start somewhere,” Astrini said. “The next four years will be a window of opportunity to recover what has been destroyed and build a consensus so that we never again witness … the same kind of destruction.”
