What can you share about growing up in the Amazon and how it has informed your work?

Marina Silva Brazil's Environment and Climate Minister on growing up in the Amazon, hosting this year's U.N. climate talks, and the global retreat of the Trump Administration

- JUSTIN Worland/Brasília

Since taking office, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has managed to dramatically reduce Amazon deforestation. How have you done it? In 2023, when we took office, we had deforestation on an ascending curve that was out of control. We had to rebuild command-and-control organizations and increase public funding. Based on data and evidence, we began from the very beginning to apply policies that we projected would work. And the result is a 46% drop in the last two years compared to the baseline of 2022. Now we have greater complexity. You can initially reduce the highest rates of illegal deforestation. But from now on we need to have policies to stem legal deforestation.