“Lula has just buried his claim to be a climate leader”: Brazil approves controversial oil exploration in Amazonas

Three weeks before hosting the United Nations international conference on climate change (COP), in Belém, the Brazilian Government approved a license to drill and explore oil reserves near the mouth of the Amazon Riveron the ocean coast of the largest tropical forest in the world and in an area rich in biodiversity. The President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is being criticized by environmentalists for supporting this decision which goes against his role as a “climate leader”.

At issue is the drilling of an exploratory well in the so-called “block FZA-M-059”, “located in deep waters of the Amapá River, 500 kilometers from the mouth of the Amazon River and 175 kilometers from the coast, on the Brazilian Equatorial Margin”, details the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras, which received, this month, the environmental license from the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources. (Ibama).