It is only a week since Brazil’s new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, took office and during his campaigns, Lula promised to help the world fight climate change by protecting the Amazon rainforest, which sequesters a large portion of global carbon emissions. And as a Starting point, Lula has already signed several climate- and environment-related decrees in his first week on the job. One re-establishes the Amazon Fund, an international mechanism frozen by the Bolsonaro administration that finances efforts to reduce deforestation. Lula also revoked a 2022 edict, signed by Bolsonaro, that sought to expand and legalize small-scale ‘wildcat’ gold mining, which strips land of vegetation, pollutes waterways and is often carried out illicitly in Indigenous territories in the Amazon. And he also announced the creation of a National Authority for Climate Security, an office that — if approved by the Brazilian Congress — will oversee the execution and implementation of the country’s climate policy. Indeed Brazil Is Back!!