The worlds largest nonnuclear power and fourth-largest democracy is in the midst of a political crisis it cant seem to escape.

Over the past three years, Brazils ever-growing corruption scandal has enveloped hundreds of politicians. President Dilma Rousseff was impeached last fall. And last Wednesday, Brazils problems got even worse: A federal judge convicted the countrys former president , Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, on charges of corruption and money laundering.

The conviction and potential imprisonment of a former president, especially one who was a leading candidate for next years presidential election, will throw Brazil even deeper into crisis. But it should also cause concern for the rest of the world. Without a stable Brazil, it will be hard perhaps impossible to solve the planets most pressing international problems.

The world needs Brazil, said Mark Langevin, the head of the Brazil Institute at George Washington Universitys Elliott School of International Affairs.

The countrys largest natural resource, the Amazon rainforest, is crucial in the global fight against climate change, and the debate over how to protect it continues to rage in Brazil. Brazilian President Michel Temer is currently pushing legislation that would remove protections from an area of the Amazon the size of Portugal. And after years of substantial progress cutting greenhouse gas emissions during Silvas time in office, such emissions have increased in recent years .

Brazil is also on track to become the largest exporter of food and agricultural products over the next decade. It is home to nearly one-fifth of the worlds available freshwater and is among the leading producers of sustainable biofuels, meaning the country is positioned to help address potential effects of climate change including food and water scarcity in certain parts of the world.

Brazils strong relations with China and improving relations with other world powers including the U.S., Russia and the European Union also allow it to engage in a great balancing act between nations with more adversarial relationships, Langevin said.

You cannot have a serious discussion on climate change, on sustainability, on food security, if Brazil is not at the table, said Paulo Sotero, the head of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Washington-based think tank.

But, he added, the Brazil that has to be at the table is a credible Brazil, a Brazil that is managing itself and its economy in a proper way.