São Paulo, Brazil — Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s speech at COP 27 delivered what the world needed to hear from one of the most important countries related to the climate change crisis.Among the specific goals announced, his commitment to end deforestation and the devastation of Brazilian biomes by 2030 and the creation of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples — a way of empowering indigenous populations within the federal government — stand out.In fact, what happened in recent years was a structured process that facilitated the degradation of the region based on measures that weakened the institutions responsible for protecting the rainforest, especially the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Resources (IBAMA).Other practices also contributed to the weakening of IBAMA’s oversight,such as the reduction of employees’ working hours and obstacles to their field work.The annual rate of deforestation more than doubled between 2019 and 2021 compared to rates recorded until 2018, raising destruction to levels never seen before."