Covid-19 pandemic and harmful policies push Brazil into an environmental crisis

Strong evidence indicates that the Brazilian government is taking advantage of the confusion caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to speed-up a wide-ranging environmental setback. We present a timeline of policies and acts taken by the current federal administration against the environment during the pandemic and discuss their consequences. The unprecedented amount of measures affecting environmental policies is especially intended to weaken deforestation control and transparency of environmental agencies, and allow the expansion of harmful activities (e.g. mining and agribusiness) into Protected Areas and Indigenous Lands. The ongoing environmental dismantling in Brazil breaches several international agreements and, if not reverted, will jeopardize nature’s contributions to national and global societies and risk worldwide climate and biodiversity. We highlight strategies that could be taken by economic, scientific, and political sectors to cease the environmental dismantling in Brazil. The suggestions presented here could also be used in other countries facing similar challenges.