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On December 29, 2022, Marina Silva, member on-leave of the Inter-American Dialogue, was named Brazil’s new minister of environment under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Silva, a long-time defender of the Amazon rainforest, has announced her priority to return Brazil to a protagonist role in the global fight against climate change.
Silva previously served as Minister of Environment from 2003-2008 during Lula’s prior presidential administration and was the founder of one of the most successful efforts to stop deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, the Amazon Fund. Silva has received various accolades for her environmental activism, including the Goldman Environmental Prize for South & Central America and the the 2009 Sophie Prize. She has also been named one of the United Nations Environment Program’s Champions of the Earth, one of the Financial Times’ Women of the Year, and one of Foreign Policy’s top global thinkers.
Silva assumed office on January 1, 2023, and is expected to carry out an agenda of prosecuting illegal deforestation and fostering transnational collaboration for forest management and climate protection.
Marina Silva is a member on-leave of the Inter-American Dialogue.
