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Bolsonaro’s troubled legacy for science, health and the environment

Brazilians will choose their new president on 2 October and Jair Bolsonaro is running for a second term. Critics say he has damaged the country’s science, people’s well-being and its threatened ecosystems.
  1. Meghie Rodrigues
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People protesting against Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, in São Paulo, Oct. 2, 2 021.

Protesters rally against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in São Paulo in October last year. Credit: Victor Moriyama/The New York Times/Redux/eyevine

Four years ago, scientists across Brazil feared the worst when Jair Bolsonaro was elected as the country’s next president. Bolsonaro had promised, for instance, to pull Brazil out of the Paris climate accord, dismantle the environment ministry and reduce the extent of protected areas if he won. Although he didn’t fulfil some of those promises, the president has repeatedly clashed with Brazil’s scientific community and caused lasting damage, according to critics. He has, for example, fired government officials who disagreed with him on issues such as surging rates of deforestation and health measures to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far killed almost 700,000 people in Brazil.

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Nature 609, 890-891 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03038-3

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