As international leaders, corporations and NGOs gear up to discuss efforts to tackle global warming at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, residents in a crucial region for the climate crisis show they have very different priorities. On Oct. 6, voters in the Amazon chose its mayors and councilors for the next four years, deciding as much about the rainforest’s future as authorities in international forums. Many politicians who openly oppose conservationism were elected. Two of the seven Amazon states’ capitals elected candidates supported by former President Jair Bolsonaro, a climate denialist who empowered illegal miners and land-grabbers during his government from 2019-22. “The rise of the far right is very visible in the Amazon states,” Wendell Andrade, public policy specialist for the Amazon at the Talanoa Institute, a Brazilian think tank committed to climate policy, told Mongabay. In Rio Branco, Acre’s capital, Tião Bocalom, a strong advocate of agribusiness, was reelected. According to the Brazilian news outlet InfoAmazônia, he directed only 1.3% of the city’s budget to environmental preservation while in charge. Bocalom told Mongabay he increased investments to support environmental protection and ensured technical assistance to small farmers so they wouldn’t need to burn their plots or deforest new areas. “I want human beings to be friends of the environment, not enemies, because all they’ve done all their lives is oppress small producers,” the mayor said. In four other Amazon capitals, candidates backed by Bolsonaro had enough votes to run in the second…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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