"Brazilian President Lula faces pressure to veto environmental licensing measure over concerns of rising deforestation." 

"RIO DE JANEIRO - As Brazil prepares to host the COP30 climate summit in the Amazon city of Belém in November, President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva is under pressure to veto a measure that could have a huge impact on the world's largest tropical rainforest.

The bill, according to critics, would dismantle the environmental licensing process in Brazil, home to the biggest share of the Amazon rainforest.

Dubbed the "devastation bill" by those who see it as Brazil's worst setback in environmental law since the country's democratic turn four decades ago, the legislation was passed in the Senate earlier this year and in the Lower House last week.

Environmentalists criticize Lula for not doing enough to stop the bill from moving forward and not challenging the powerful agribusiness caucus."

Andre Cabette Fabio reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation July 28, 2025. [2]