A prominent Brazilian climate scientist is running for Congress, frustrated that the country's political leaders have ignored scientific evidence on deforestation and climate change. Luciana Gatti, who studies carbon uptake in the Amazon, aims to win a seat in Brazil's lower house in next week's elections.
Gatti is a senior researcher at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, where her work has documented the Amazon's declining ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Her findings have shown that parts of the rainforest are now emitting more carbon than they absorb, a shift with major implications for global climate stability. She has argued that Brazil's political class has failed to act on such evidence.
Her candidacy reflects a broader frustration among Brazilian scientists who say the government has weakened environmental protections and undermined research institutions in recent years. Deforestation in the Amazon surged during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who questioned climate science and pushed to open protected areas to mining and agribusiness. Current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to reverse those trends, but scientists say progress has been uneven.
Gatti has said she decided to run because she could no longer stand by while politicians ignored the data her team and others have produced. She is not the first scientist to seek office in Brazil, but her candidacy has drawn attention because of her direct role in documenting the Amazon's tipping point. If elected, she would join a small group of lawmakers with scientific backgrounds in a Congress where agribusiness and mining interests hold significant influence.
The election comes as Brazil prepares to host the COP30 climate summit in the Amazonian city of Belém next year, a high-profile event that will put the country's environmental policies under international scrutiny. Gatti's campaign has focused on defending science-based policymaking, protecting the Amazon, and strengthening public research institutions. She has said that without political action, her research will only document the continued destruction of the forest.
Her run also highlights the tension between scientific evidence and political decision-making in Brazil. While the country has committed to ending deforestation by 2030, enforcement has been inconsistent, and illegal logging and land clearing continue. Gatti has argued that Brazil needs lawmakers who understand the science and are willing to act on it, rather than treating environmental policy as a bargaining chip.
Whether her candidacy succeeds will depend on a crowded electoral field and the influence of established political machines. But her decision to enter politics signals a growing willingness among researchers to move from the laboratory to the legislature when they believe the stakes are too high to remain on the sidelines.
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