THE AMAZON DEGRADATION AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSION OF THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY IN BRAZIL

The Amazon is at the core of political and socio-environmental debates in Brazil, thus each democratic scenario in the country has implied different dynamics of exploration and conservation in the region. The country's democracy entered a period of erosion and ruptures from 2016 onwards. In 2019, democratic setbacks began to occur on several fronts, evidencing the crisis of democracy conjuncture. This research aims to analyze the scenario of democracy erosion in Brazil from the environmental perspective. We used the crisis of democracy theories to delimit and bring to light the main components of the Brazilian case. Then, we raise historical facts associated with the degradation processes of the Amazon. Our discussions indicate that the crisis of democracy occurs throughout two phases. The conjuncture decisively affected the main mechanisms and actors involved in containing the degradation of the Amazon. The processes of environmental degradation, which emerged during the crisis of democracy, are not the result of a single isolated event. Instead, they resulted from multiple interacting events that can interact with each other.