[3] After Campos's death in a plane crash on August, she was selected to run as the Socialist Party's candidate for the presidency, winning 21% of the vote and coming in 3rd.

In 2010, she, along with Cécile Duflot, Monica Frassoni, Elizabeth May and Renate Künast, were named by Foreign Policy magazine to its list of top global thinkers[6] for taking Green mainstream.

[9][10] Orphaned at age 16, young Marina moved to the state capital, Rio Branco, to study and receive treatment for hepatitis.

[12] She led demonstrations called empates with Chico Mendes to warn against deforestation and the outplacement of forest communities from their traditional locations.

[13] She helped Chico Mendes to lead the trade union movement, being elected as councillor of Rio Branco in 1988 for her first mandate in a public office.

As a native Amazonian and a senator, she built support for environmental protection of the reserves as well as for social justice and sustainable development in the Amazon region.

The policy, also known as, "The Action Plan For The Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon,"[16] It simultaneously fostered sustainable development, favored territorial zoning, and attached greater value to standing forests.

However, Adário claims that his organization monitors the Amazon region and that only one such operation was conducted in October 2004, in the town of Itaituba, Pará.

[15] She remained in office until 2008 and received several criticisms from entrepreneurs (mainly related to agribusiness) on account of delays in granting permits for projects with large environmental impact.

[19] Silva cited "the growing resistance found by our team in important sectors of the government and society" as the reason for her resignation.

She had become increasingly isolated in Lula da Silva's government due to her views against hydroelectric dams, biofuels, and genetically modified crops.

Confirming the expectations,[20] Marina Silva launched her candidacy[21] to the 2010 election under the Green Party ticket on 16 May 2010 in the city of Nova Iguaçu, state of Rio de Janeiro.

[22]In her campaign, Silva defended the "exercise of citizen-based political principles and values", "education for the knowledge society", "economy applied to a sustainable society", "social protection, health, welfare and 3rd generation of social programs", "quality of life and safety for all Brazilians", and "strengthening of culture and diversity".

[23] With her speech against the endemic corruption in Brazil (see A Privataria Tucana and Mensalão scandal), and in favor of sustainable development (with a due consideration to environmental issues), Silva managed to attract the middle class sectors disillusioned with the government of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso's PSDB and dissatisfied with the compensatory social policies of Lula da Silva's administration.

[30] On Wednesday, 13 August 2014, Campos' private jet, with six others on board, crashed in bad weather as it was preparing to land in the coastal city of Santos, just south of São Paulo.

She enjoys strong support among young voters and evangelicals, but because of her pro-environmental stance she is largely distrusted by Brazil's powerful agribusiness sector.

However, she was later overtaken by Ciro Gomes, Fernando Haddad (Lula's replacement on the PT ticket), and Geraldo Alckmin, and was later polling fifth on average.

[48][49] Nevertheless, during her 2010 election campaign, she was criticized by one of the main leaders of the Brazilian Assemblies of God, Pastor Silas Malafaia, after having proposed a referendum on abortion and the decriminalization of marijuana.

The Olympic Committee said it was aware of Silva's work as an activist in defense of the rainforest, but denied any political motivations regarding the choice.