Deforestation is often a precursor to fires in the Amazon . Photo:Getty
Brazilian President taken to court over mass Amazon deforestation
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | JUNE 13th 2020
The Amazon rainforest, crucial to holding back the worst impacts of global warming, has come under threat in the year 2020 with deforestation reports coming up to have been worse than they were in 2019 under the governance of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
It was recorded by the National Institute for Space Research, or Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), a Brazilian space research agency, that 10,129 square kilometres of Amazon had been torn down in acts of deforestation between the periods of August 2018 and July 2019. The area is comparatively roughly the size of Lebanon, as well as a marked increase from the reports on the year before – an increase of about 34.4%. This 2019 data is the highest marked deforestation rate collected since the year 2008.
As is standard practice, the INPE revises its data yearly for the sake of accuracy. The initial report prior to the calculation of 10,129 square kilometres was a lower 9,762 square kilometres. President Bolsonaro is the one seen to be taking the primary blame from both climate scientists and environmental groups, given his goal of developing the Amazon rainforest area.
With Bolsonaro’s administration already under heavy fire and criticism for mishandling the coronavirus pandemic threat, the Brazilian President is now facing a lawsuit as public prosecutors and civil society groups are taking his government to court over the blatant failure to protect the rainforest, especially now during the season where forest fires are most common in the country.
The policies of Bolsonaro have thus far endorsed illegal logging in the rainforest, as well as ranching, and emboldening land speculators for the sake of the country’s industry. He’s urged that certain protected parts of the Amazon be developed for the sake of the poorer percentage of the country, as a way to flatten poverty rates.
“It's very hard to believe Bolsonaro will change his behaviour or mindset. What we really need to do is neutralize the attacks on the environment,” said executive secretary of Brazil-based think tank Climate Observatory, Marcio Astrini. Climate Observatory was responsible for providing the legal analysis within the lawsuit. Astrini went on to refer to Bolsonaro as a denier of climate change, one whose view of the environment is that of one who considers it an adversary.
“We are the country that most preserves the environment in the world,” President Bolsonaro himself said on World Environment Day, last week. “Unjustly, [we are] the most attacked.” This comes among many debates within the country on the importance of its position, given the location of the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest. Roughly 60% of the forest is located in Brazil, and its protection is considered vital for the sake of the environment. Primarily for curbing the increasing threat of climate change, according to scientists, because of the enormous quantity of carbon dioxide it absorbs every year.
In May, Bolsonaro deployed the armed forces to combat rising deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, and provide it protection.
“This is the most critical moment in the history of the Amazon,” said Monica De Los Rios, Brazil coordinator at the non-profit Earth Innovation Institute, who’s expressed her belief that the way to help Brazil slow its rates of deforestation during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as its recession period, may be in working with and supporting sustainable farmers, and fixing structures of land ownership.
By Patryk Krych | © The World Daily 2020
