A farmer in Brazil must pay a fine of more than €47 million for destroying the Amazon rainforest. It’s the country’s largest ever civil climate case.

Farmer Dirceu Kruger was responsible for the deforestation of 5,600 hectares of Amazon rainforest between 2003 and 2016, in the cities of Boca da Acre and Labreia, located in the state of Amazonas in northwestern Brazil.

Kruger cleared trees and vegetation with chainsaws and then set fire to the land, turning it into pasture for his cattle. Evidence of this has been provided by satellite imagery. There are also film recordings of Kruger admitting to doing this.

In addition to the multi-million dollar fine, he must also try to restore the destroyed rainforest and will be banned from raising cattle in the future. Kruger can still appeal the ruling.

The $47 million figure was calculated based on a model from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The deforested area would have released 901,000 tonnes of carbon. If nature retains carbon, climate change would happen more slowly.

The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest. Half of it is in Brazil. Deforestation there has been steadily declining since 2004, but under former President Bolsonaro, deforestation increased again between 2019 and 2022. He has reduced the number of law enforcement officers who had to combat deforestation.

Current President Lula is doing a lot to prevent deforestation in the Amazon. In his first term, between 2003 and 2010, the cap was already reduced by 80%. When Bolsonaro took over last year, he immediately reversed his policies.

Lula wants to see no more illegal deforestation by 2030, although he was unable to reach firm agreements on the issue with other South American countries last year.