Brazil’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva stepped down from her post Wednesday (Apr. 1). This was her third term in the position, all appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Like other ministers, she is leaving office to run in the upcoming October elections.

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The minister took stock of her 39-month tenure, from January 1, 2023, to April 1, 2026. In her speech, she addressed Brazil’s return to leadership on the global environmental agenda, presented data on the reduction of deforestation in threatened biomes, and discussed the ministry’s institutional recovery.

“When we arrived, in January 2023, we found an organization that needed to be rebuilt in terms of its political, ethical, technical, administrative, and operational capacity. Since then, we have revitalized Brazil’s environmental governance by adding more than 1,557 staff members to the ministry’s system,” she declared.

During this period, she said, the ministry’s annual budget more than doubled – growing by 120 percent, from BRL 865 million in 2022 to BRL 1.9 billion in 2025. “Institutional reconstruction means people, budget, governance, and execution capacity,” she added.

The budget increase and the recovery of the ministry and its affiliated agencies have yielded results, she argued.

“In 2025, compared to 2022, deforestation fell by 50 percent in the Amazon and 32.3 percent in the cerrado, preventing the emission of 733.9 million tons of CO₂ equivalent. In the most recent cycle of alerts, from August 2025 to February 2026, there was a further reduction of 33 percent in the Amazon and seven percent in the cerrado.”

“If we continue at this pace, even during such a challenging period, we stand to achieve the lowest rate on record,” she said.

With expanded teams and increased financial resources, greater action was taken in the most threatened areas. From 2022 to 2025, Brazil had 3.4 million hectares undergoing native vegetation restoration. The minister also reported that, in the same comparison, the area covered by illegal mining in the Amazon was reduced by 50 percent.

In addition to providing an accountability report and presenting results, the address marked the handover of the ministry’s helm to João Paulo Ribeiro Capobianco, the ministry’s current executive secretary. The appointment, Minister Marina Silva said, will ensure “the continuity of the policies adopted by President Lula’s administration in recent years.”

She said she views “political action as a service” and stated that she is “neither optimistic nor pessimistic,” but “persistent.”

In her view, “there is no civilization if denialism prevails. If it prevails, perhaps there won’t even be a planet.”

Investments of BRL 815 million from the Union with Municipalities Program for the Reduction of Deforestation and Forest Fires in the Amazon have led to a decrease in fires in 70 priority municipalities across the Amazon.

The program aims to strengthen federal cooperation and encourage local leaders to take the initiative in addressing the problem.

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During the public policy review ceremony on Tuesday (Mar. 31), Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva emphasized that the results demonstrate it is possible to combine conservation and development.

“Deforestation in the Amazon has fallen by 50 percent since 2022, while agribusiness has grown - we have opened more than 500 new markets since 2023.”

The funds were invested in more than 2,000 vehicles for enforcement, technical training for over 500 individuals, and compensation for 4,000 small farmers for environmental services.

In addition to the balance sheet, new contracts for land and environmental regularization, as well as the provision of technical assistance and rural extension services, were signed through the National Agency for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Anater).

The new investments, totaling BRL 75 million, will benefit approximately 32,000 rural properties in 48 municipalities across the states of Acre, Amazonas, Pará, Mato Grosso, Roraima, and Rondônia.

Program

Created in September 2023, the Union with Municipalities Program promotes federal cooperation to strengthen the control and monitoring of fires and deforestation in the Amazon.

Land and environmental regularization and vegetation restoration, supported by sustainable production, complement these efforts.

“With command and control, we address what must not happen. But mayors, quite rightly, were calling for a positive agenda to curb deforestation. Land and environmental regularization, for example, is a demand from everyone,” Minister Silva emphasized.

The funds invested in the program come from the Amazon Fund, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, through other funds and public policies such as the Amazon Forest+ Project, which provides compensation for environmental services, including forest restoration and greenhouse gas emission reduction.