Marina Silva, 64 today, also served as Minister of the Environment in the two previous terms of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010).
Born in his forest AmazonBrazil’s new Environment Minister Marina Silva is a leading figure in the fight to tackle the climate crisis, and her appointment underscores the importance the Lula government attaches to this burning issue.
Marina Silva, 64 today, also served as environment minister in the two previous terms of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), before stepping down in 2008 accusing the president of not sufficiently supporting her fight to protect the Amazon.
After three runs for Brazil’s presidency (2010, 2014, 2018), he reconciled with Lula to prevent the re-election of far-right Jair Bolsonaro.
In return for her support, Marina Silva received a series of promises, including the creation of a national climate authority tasked with verifying actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Deforestation in the Amazon has increased by almost 60% during Bolsonaro’s presidency, making the need for drastic measures to protect them imperative.
From illiteracy, to a ministerial position
Maria Osmarina Marina Silva Vaz de Lima was born in 1958 in the state of Acre, in the Brazilian Amazon.
Three of her 11 siblings died in infancy and she lost her mother when she was just 15 years old.
From the age of 11, she walked 14 kilometers a day to help her father who worked in a rubber plantation. “I used to get up at 4 in the morning to cut wood and light a fire. I was making coffee and a banana and egg salad. It was our breakfast,” she said.
She faced many health problems – three times with hepatitis and five with malaria – but she emerged victorious from each battle.
By the age of 16, she was illiterate. But nuns in Rio Branco opened new horizons for her and ten years later she would graduate from university, after working as a cleaner to pay for her studies.
Her political career began alongside trade unionist Chico Mendes — an ardent activist for the protection of the Amazon rainforest — who was assassinated in 1988.
She was a city councilor in Rio Branco before becoming the youngest senator in Brazilian history at the age of 36.
Marina Silva is a mother of four children and, like many of her compatriots, renounced Catholicism to join the Evangelical Church.
RES-EMP
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