Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s rightwing president-elect, offers a variety of proposals to undergird his oft-repeated view of most environmental regulation as antithetical to economic development. Among them: to end the “industry” of environmental fines, to streamline environmental licensing and to open the Amazon region to more large-scale agriculture, resumed hydroelectric development and mining. Bolsonaro’s supporters, to be sure, argue that some of his positions would bring green benefits. They point out that he favors expanded wind and solar power and more nuclear plants—which, although controversial on public-safety and environmental grounds, could aid in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. He also supports ecotourism, saying in a Nov. 10 Facebook video that if hotels were built in protected areas, “the environment would be preserved.” But green advocates assert that the vast bulk of Bolsonaro’s environmental positions—and most importantly, the worldview informing them—run dramatically counter to environmental conservation... [Log in to read more]