Aerial view of a burning area of Amazon rainforest in Para state on August 16, 2020. Carl de Souza / AFP / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
A month after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declared a 120-day ban on setting fires in the Amazon rainforest and three months after he deployed military troops to combat deforestation, Greenpeace on Tuesday called out the far-right leader for his ineffective strategies and attacks on environmental protections.
<p><span style="background-color: initial;"><br/></span></p>
<p>"Bolsonaro's administration has continued to systematically dismantle environmental protection and has undermined the work of environmental law enforcement agencies," Cristiane Mazzetti, an Amazon campaigner for Greenpeace Brazil, said in a statement. "Bolsonaro's supposed fire ban has already been undermined by Bolsonaro himself. Sending troops to the Amazon is just a PR stunt and a waste of resources."</p><p>The Brazilian president, who took office in January 2019, has long been criticized within and beyond his country's borders for targeting the environment and Indigenous people, and for his <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/07/brazilian-experts-warn-open-letter-president-bolsonaro-genocide-underway-against" target="_blank">attempts</a> to open up the Amazon to more economic development. Fires in the Amazon are often set to illegally clear land for farming, ranching, and mining.</p><p>Satellite data <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-amazon-rainforest-fires-surge-in-july/a-54405259" target="_blank">released</a> in early August by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) suggest Bolsonaro's military deployment and fire ban aren't working. The agency reported that fire activity in the Amazon throughout July jumped 28% compared with the same month last year. INPE documented 6,803 fires in the rainforest last month, compared to 5,318 in 2019.</p><p>"And it's still early—August is generally considered to be the start of the fire season, which typically hits during drier months," German broadcaster <em>Deutsche Welle</em> <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/amazon-rainforest-fire-deforestation-mining-slash-and-burn-brazil/a-54486689" target="_blank">reported</a> Tuesday. "More than 10,000 fires were recorded in the first 10 days of this month, up 17% from the same period last year, according to INPE."</p>
<div id="f8880" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1a36878f52d706c8d4d095685f0f8c56"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1294393701247131653" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This is what the fires in the Amazon look like right now. Meanwhile, Bolsonaro continues to look the other way and… https://t.co/u5FCDpO6BJ</div> — Greenpeace (@Greenpeace)<a href="https://twitter.com/Greenpeace/statuses/1294393701247131653">1597442481.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Greenpeace's Romulo Batista said in response to the INPE data in early August that "more than 1,000 fires in a single day is a 15-year record and shows the government's strategy of media-spectacle operations is not working on the ground."</p><p>Brazil is home to about 60% of the Amazon, which spans nine nations in South America. All of those countries, but especially Brazil, face pressure from world leaders to protect the biodiverse rainforest because it traps a massive amount of carbon dioxide, helping the international community battle human-caused global heating.</p><p>"INPE data indicate that Brazil has failed to comply with its climate change law, whose goal for 2020 was to limit deforestation in the Amazon to a maximum of 3,925 [square kilometers]," Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Brazilian advocacy group Climate Observatory, <a href="http://www.observatoriodoclima.eco.br/en/alta-desmatamento-nao-e-inepcia-e-projeto/" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement earlier this month.</p>
<p>"This also diverts us from the Paris agreement route, which will create a series of trade difficulties for Brazil in the critical period of economic recovery expected for the post-pandemic period," Astrini added. "Crime took over the Amazon, encouraged by the Bolsonaro administration itself."</p><p>Brenda Brito, associate researcher at the Brazilian nonprofit Imazon, warned that "it will be difficult to contain deforestation if the government continues with its intention to change land legislation and legalize deforested and illegally invaded areas. Land grabbing is a vector of deforestation, which is encouraged with the expectation of amnesty and legalization.</p><p>Bolsonaro disputed the fire data from his own government in an August 11 speech to South American leaders, saying that "tropical rainforest doesn't catch fire. So this story that the Amazon is burning is a lie, and we have to fight it with real numbers."</p>
<div id="9212b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5fbf9e87c891f84170b3c907f03f5972"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1293755405827440641" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Man-made fires in the Amazon were caught on video by @Reuters as they were lit, the same day Brazilian President Ja… https://t.co/tFIMFMXKr0</div> — Reuters (@Reuters)<a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/statuses/1293755405827440641">1597290300.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><em>DW</em> reported on the Brazilian president's comments Tuesday:</p><blockquote>Bolsonaro challenged the leaders to fly over the rainforest from Boa Vista to Manaus, a distance of some 750 kilometers (460 miles), and see for themselves. "They won't find any spot of fire, nor a quarter of a hectare deforested," he said.<br><br>While these forests may still appear untouched when viewed from above, the green landscape seen from a plane or satellite can be deceptive. A typical wildfire burning through the understory—the vegetation growing beneath the forest's main canopy—of a virgin rainforest can wipe out small shrubs, plants and between 40 to 50% of all trees.<br><br>"A considerable part of the Amazon forest has been consecutively degraded, and it's invisible to our eyes," said Ane Alencar, director of science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), a Brazilian non-governmental organization. "In fact, the quality of these forests has been degraded due to these forest fires."<br></blockquote>
<p>Although not all the damage is visible from the sky, many of the fires are. In addition to its Tuesday statement condemning Bolsonaro's tactics, Greenpeace <a href="https://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MZIFJ8OKD2P" target="_blank">released</a> photos of fires from a flyover of Amazonas and Rondônia states on August 16.</p><p>"Brazil has shown, in the past, that it is possible, with proper policies and enforcement, such as the demarcation of Indigenous peoples' lands, to decrease deforestation and fires substantially," said Mazzetti. "It is a matter of political will."</p><p>"Instead of combating criminal behavior and protecting Indigenous forest guardians already hit hard by Covid-19," she added, "this government continues to reduce environmental protection and ally itself with those who want to destroy the forest."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/18/fires-surge-brazilian-amazon-bolsonaro-strategy-battle-deforestation-blasted-pr?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p><span></span><a href="https://commons.commondreams.org/t/as-fires-surge-in-brazilian-amazon-bolsonaro-strategy-to-battle-deforestation-blasted-as-pr-stunt/81334" target="_blank"></a>From Your Site Articles
- Amazon Rainforest Fires in Brazil Surge in July - EcoWatch ›
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While these forests may still appear untouched when viewed from above, the green landscape seen from a plane or satellite can be deceptive. Melanie Jüngling / EyeEm / Getty Images
By Martin Kuebler
2020 is shaping up to be another destructive year for the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Deforestation — a grim precursor to the fires used to clear the land for development — has increased significantly, according to observers. And many experts fear the region could see a repeat of the destructive wildfires of last August and September.
<p>Satellite data released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) on August 1 showed <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-amazon-rainforest-fires-surge-in-july/a-54405259" target="_blank">more than 6,800 fires across the Amazon region in July</a>, an increase of 28% compared with last year. And it's still early — August is generally considered to be the start of the fire season, which typically hits during drier months. More than 10,000 fires were recorded in the first 10 days of this month, up 17% from the same period last year, according to INPE.</p><p>Last year's deforestation toll on the world's biggest rainforest — 60% of which is in Brazil — was an estimated 10,000 square kilometers (3,800 square miles), roughly the size of Lebanon. That's the highest level since 2008, according to INPE. With increased deforestation comes a greater risk of wildfires, since many of the those that ravaged the rainforest last year spread from land being cleared for illegal mining, agriculture and cattle ranching.</p>
Degradation Below the Canopy
<p>President Jair Bolsonaro — who has repeatedly called for more of the Amazon region to be cleared for economic development — disputed the recent fire data in a speech to other South American leaders on August 11.</p><p>"Tropical rainforest doesn't catch fire. So this story that the Amazon is burning is a lie, and we have to fight it with real numbers," he told the meeting of the Leticia Pact, a group launched last year to protect the rainforest.</p><p>Bolsonaro challenged the leaders to fly over the rainforest from Boa Vista to Manaus, a distance of some 750 kilometers (460 miles), and see for themselves. "They won't find any spot of fire, nor a quarter of a hectare deforested," he said.</p><p>While these forests may still appear untouched when viewed from above, the green landscape seen from a plane or satellite can be deceptive. A typical wildfire burning through the understory — the vegetation growing beneath the forest's main canopy — of a virgin rainforest can wipe out small shrubs, plants and between 40 to 50% of all trees. </p><p>"A considerable part of the Amazon forest has been consecutively degraded, and it's invisible to our eyes," said Ane Alencar, director of science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), a Brazilian non-governmental organization. "In fact, the quality of these forests has been degraded due to these forest fires."</p><p>When much of the undergrowth and smaller trees are eliminated, it makes it difficult to maintain the moist understory microclimate that helps protect rainforests from fires. These microclimates are already suffering, with the average temperature in the Amazon basin having risen by at least 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1980, according to climate data from USAID. The dry season has become longer and severe droughts are now more frequent, with three reported since 2005.</p><p>The damage doesn't end with the initial blaze, either. Larger trees, which may be harmed in a fire but survive thanks to the moist environment, could finally succumb to the trauma years later. "Initially, it's the small trees which die because they are most vulnerable to the heat stress, but over time it's actually the larger trees which die and fall over, taking with them many other trees," said Jos Barlow, a British conservation science professor who has worked in Brazil since 1998.</p><p>"This opens up additional gaps in the canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the understory and further dry it out."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2MzkwNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1ODcyNzc3OH0.A-Aa8nQnv4eguq7jkKfZ9pCI6_Q_MLluFOojU8o3ohA/img.png?width=980" id="2d2e1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a578debcf9bfe42f4201f076ca68bf17" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>The recovery of mycorrhizal networks — underground systems of soil fungi that help trees to exchange nutrients and water — after a wildfire is still unclear and a subject of research, though it's known that the uppermost layer of very fine roots also suffers in the initial blaze. Some studies, <a href="https://fireecology.springeropen.com/articles/10.4996/fireecology.130237746" target="_blank">including a 2017 article in <em>Fire Ecology</em></a>, have suggested that the "resiliency of soil fungi likely contributes to the overall rapid ecosystem recovery following fire." For forest ecosystems, however, rapid can still mean several decades, <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/3/eaau3114.full" target="_blank">according to a 2019 report in the journal Science Advances</a> — at the earliest. </p>
Wildfires Increasing in Recent Years
<p>Another danger, said Barlow, is that more and more fires are reigniting areas already damaged by fire, particularly along the edges of the rainforest near new roads, clear-cut fields and pastures, both legal and illegal. This could permanently change the landscape.</p><p>"If you have recurrent fires of two or three burns, then you move into an alternative ecosystem where you have almost no large [trees] at all, dominated by scrubby species and bamboo and grasses," said Barlow.</p><p>Paulo Massoca, a Brazilian researcher and doctoral candidate at Indiana University Bloomington studying rainforest regrowth, said recurrent fires act as a sort of "filter," gradually eliminating plants that are not adapted to frequent fires and selecting the most resistant species, leaving "a fraction of the whole pool of plants in the region."</p><p>"After repeated burnings, soils get impoverished, plants grow slower, and vines/lianas and other non-woody plants, in addition to trees, settle in the area," he told DW, adding that this wide-ranging change in the ecosystem "slows and hinders the capacity of secondary forests damaged by repeated fire events to grow back and accumulate carbon."</p><p>It doesn't help that the Amazon soil, already poor, loses even more valuable nutrients after a fire. In a rainforest, the nutrients provided by dead organic matter are quickly reabsorbed by living plant life, leaving little on the ground. </p><p>"Burnings both kill the plants that sustain the topsoil and eliminate the topsoil that supports the plants," said Massoca. "Fires immediately release the nutrients and carbon stored in the topsoil, which are either washed out after the first rain or released to the atmosphere." </p><p>Those suspended soot particles in the vast clouds of smoke then billow up over healthy forests, potentially affecting cloud formation and rainfall patterns, according to Divino Vicente Silverio, a biologist at the Amazon Rural Federal University in Belem, northern Brazil. </p><p><span></span>In an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02537-0" target="_blank">August 2019 interview with <em>Nature</em> magazine</a>, he said this atmospheric aerosol burden could lead to changes in how forests cycle water, creating drier conditions and disrupting weather patterns in the Amazon and even farther afield. </p>'There Are No Natural Fires in the Amazon'
<p>Nearly all the fires in the Amazon can be linked to human activity. Trees cleared to make way for economic development are cut down and left to dry and then set alight — a technique known as slash and burn. Additional fires are set to eliminate weeds from existing pastures and clear out old agricultural areas. And, as happened in 2019, those fires can spread to surrounding forests.</p><p>"There are no natural fires in the Amazon," said Alencar of IPAM. "Even if it's very, very dry, we need to have somebody using the match."</p><p>Faced with criticism over the government response to the 2019 fires, President Bolsonaro has banned agricultural burning in the Amazon forest and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazils-next-fire-disaster-in-the-pantanal-wetlands/a-51199164" target="_blank">Pantanal wetlands</a> until November, the end of the dry season, and deployed troops to prevent illegal deforestation.</p><p>In his speech at the meeting of the Leticia Pact last week he said the government efforts had been effective, pointing out that forest clearances had dropped in July by more than 25% when compared with July 2019, the first decline in 15 months.</p><p>"We are making big, enormous efforts to fight fires and deforestation, but even so, we are criticized," he said. </p><p>Experts, however, have accused Bolsonaro of cherry-picking the data. INPE says deforestation increased by 25% year-on-year in the first half of the year, and that at least 3,000 square kilometers (1,200 square miles) had been cut down by June. Alencar said if the current rate continues, 2020 would be Brazil's worst year for deforestation in more than a decade.</p><p>In states with historically high deforestation rates — Mato Grosso, Para and Rondonia — the number of fires detected so far in 2020 is already higher than in the same period in 2019. Alencar said the increase so early in the season shows that the government response has been ineffective — and she believes it's already too late. </p><p>"For this fire season, it seems that we lost the battle against deforestation," she told DW. "We had two days, July 30 and August 1 … with more than 1,000 hot pixels, which are a measurement of fire activity in the region. And those were very high for that period." </p><p>Added to that are NASA observations that show a potentially active Atlantic hurricane season, like 2005 and 2010, which contributed to major drought in the southwestern Amazon as storms sucked moisture from the forest.</p><p><span></span>"They are predicting that it's likely to have the same pattern happening this year, which is going to be catastrophic if it's true," said Alencar. </p>From Your Site Articles
- To Stop Amazon Deforestation, Brazilian Groups Take Bolsonaro to ... ›
- Record Number of Fires Burning in Amazon Rainforest - EcoWatch ›
- Amazon Rainforest Fires in Brazil Surge in July - EcoWatch ›
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Aerial picture showing fires burning in Brazil's Amazon rainforest on August 23, 2019. Carl de Souza / AFP / Getty Images
The number of forest fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest increased 28% in July in comparison to last year, the country's National Institute for Space Research reported Saturday.
<p>Brazil holds around 60% of the Amazon basin region and environmentalists say this area is vital to containing the impact of climate change.</p><p>The state agency recorded 6,803 fires in the Amazon last month, compared to 5,318 in the same month of 2019.</p><p>Environmentalists were alarmed by the figure, particularly because August traditionally marks the beginning of the fire season in the region. Many now fear that a repeat of the large surge in fires that devastated the area last August could occur this year again.</p>
<p>"More than 1,000 fires in a single day is a 15-year record and shows the government's strategy of media-spectacle operations is not working on the ground," Greenpeace spokesman Romulo Batista said in a statement.</p><p>The fires have been largely set to clear land illegally for farming, ranching and mining. Activists accuse Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging the deforestation, as he has been in favor of opening up the rainforest to agriculture and industry.</p><p>The first six months of 2020 were already the worst on record for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, with 3,069 square kilometers (1,185 square miles) cleared, according to INPE data, an area larger than the nation of Luxembourg.</p>
Government Measures Not Enough
<p>On July 16, the Brazilian government banned burning in the Pantanal wetlands and the Amazon forest for four months.</p><p>President Bolsonaro also issued an order in May for the military to coordinate environmental actions in the Amazon.</p><p>But experts say the fire numbers indicate the government's response has not been effective. The deforestation index also remained high this year until July, compared to the last couple of years, according to Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the Advanced Studies Institute in the State University of Sao Paulo.</p><p>"We can conclude, with data until the end of July, that the effectiveness of government actions to reduce fires and deforestation is low," he said.</p><p>Experts also say that this year's dry season will be even more prone to fires than last year. U.S. space agency NASA warned last month that warmer ocean surface temperatures in the North Atlantic have creating the conditions for a more extreme drought in the Amazon.</p><p>"Human-set fires used for agriculture and land clearing more prone to growing out of control and spreading," NASA warned. "Conditions are ripe."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-amazon-rainforest-fires-surge-in-july/a-54405259?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646869688#/" target="_self"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
- At Least 500 Jaguars Lost Their Lives or Habitat in Amazon Fires ›
- Amazon Rainforest Reaches Point of No Return - EcoWatch ›
- Record Number of Fires Burning in Amazon Rainforest - EcoWatch ›
- Amazon's Widespread Fire Damage Is 'Invisible to Our Eyes' - EcoWatch ›
- Fires Surge in Brazil's Amazon a Month After Bolsonaro Declared Fire Ban - EcoWatch ›
- Fires Surge in Brazil's Amazon a Month After Bolsonaro Declared Fire Ban - EcoWatch ›
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Brazilian Amazon Has Lost Millions of Wild Animals to Criminal Networks, Report Finds
30 July
Animals
Freeland Brasil works to conserve biodiversity by combating wildlife trafficking. Freeland Brasil
By Sharon Guynup
The Brazilian Amazon is hemorrhaging illegally traded wildlife according to a new report released Monday. Each year, thousands of silver-voiced saffron finches and other songbirds, along with rare macaws and parrots, are captured, trafficked and sold as pets. Some are auctioned as future contestants in songbird contests. Others are exported around the globe.
<p>Fish bound for ornamental home aquariums also pour out of the Amazon, including the tiny, iridescent blue and red cardinal tetra. Arapaima fish — also known as <em>pirarucù</em>, one of the world's largest freshwater fish — are caught illegally, "laundered" amidst captive-bred specimens and shipped to the U.S. in large numbers.</p><p>Other fish are headed for the dinner table, as are freshwater turtles and their eggs, while tapir, peccary and other mammals are sold in Brazil as bushmeat. Jaguar teeth, heads and skins are shipped to China.</p><p>Millions of animals are being illegally captured and traded live and in parts in a thriving Brazilian black market, according to the report, produced by TRAFFIC, a UK-based nonprofit that studies the trade. "The pervasive and uncontrolled capture of wild animals and plants for the illegal trade is having grave consequences for Brazilian <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a>, the national economy, the rule of law and good governance," it says.</p>
<h3>Lack of Data Hides Trafficking</h3><p>Deep-dive research by biodiversity consultant Sandra Charity — who wrote the 140-page study with Juliana Ferreira, executive director of the nonprofit <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> group <a href="https://en.freeland.org.br/sobre-nos" target="_blank">Freeland Brasil</a> —focused on Amazon rainforest species and closely investigated the domestic bird trade.</p><p>Importantly, the researchers found that an ever-increasing segment of the illegal trade launders poached animals via a sprawling, legal captive breeding industry — a network that specializes in birds, which have a huge domestic market in Brazil.</p><p>The authors also discovered that few government agencies have kept records or reported solid data that quantify the true scope of the problem. In many cases, records did not even identify the species or number of animals seized by authorities, while data coming from the Amazon was "notoriously scarce."</p><p>"Significant seizures are made on a daily basis by Amazon state law enforcement, and we did not have access to their data," Ferreria said, adding, "from what we saw, [the illegal trade] is even bigger than we imagined."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyMzgyMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MzE0OTM1OH0.eh2c71ohiWz1ISwkaJNeOEV4eCZFNV4OkRHqx4N9MXU/img.jpg?width=980" id="efb37" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2be4dcc7509e3f05df53742af3cec824" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Trends remain difficult to track, however, since seizure data alone represents a mere fraction of animals illegally pulled from the wild. But it is clear from existing data that there is an uptick in smuggling of some species, including jaguars: seizures increased by 200% from 2012 to 2018.</p><p>The lack of comprehensive data, the report notes, tends to play down the importance, as well as concealing the severity, of Brazilian trafficking — undermining enforcement efforts, legal attention and the funding needed to fight it.</p><p>But the study warns that the illegal trade is having serious consequences not only for the animals seized, but for entire species, ecosystems and people, not just in the Amazon but around the globe. The current COVID-19 epidemic, for example, caused by a coronavirus that jumped from wildlife to humans, has reminded the world that trafficking in wild animals is not merely a conservation issue, says Ferreira. It's both a public health issue and a biosafety issue.</p><p>An overarching national strategy is needed now to deal effectively with the problem, said the research team.</p>
<h3>Impact on the Amazon</h3><p>Today's vigorous, deadly commerce has helped speed the demise of 1,173 species that are either facing extinction or have already vanished in Brazil. Often the largest, strongest, most beautiful animals are lost, impacting the entire population. For example, the trade targets male birds with their showy plumage, while the few survivors of a species remaining in the wild can become inbred, weakening the gene pool and genetic resilience.</p><p>The scope of the plunder has also sparked concern over broader, cascading ecosystem impacts, says Ferreira, who explained that regularly taking animals from wild populations creates a domino effect, dismantling the biological and physical systems that sustain all life on Earth.</p><p>For example, without birds that act as pollinators and seed-dispersers, trees and plants that many creatures rely on for food disappear. Tropical forests also act as huge carbon vaults, mitigating climate change and extreme weather; they offer buffers from flooding and provide drinking water for millions of people. Losing millions of animals every year to trafficking could lead not only to empty forests, but eventually cause whole ecosystems to crash.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyMzgyMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMzYxNTQ1NH0.UmXQbzCzJXdxIN_vMeotnVIJgF3MWlYKDnQLndFtct0/img.jpg?width=980" id="b7598" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ba860e575989538043788aea786470e4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<h3>Trafficking as Global Organized Crime</h3><p>The wildlife trade is also gaining increasing attention because of its lawless perpetrators: transnational criminal trafficking networks span the globe, make huge profits and cultivating massive corruption. Their illicit supply chain extends from the Amazon to almost every continent.</p><p><a href="https://www.thegef.org/" target="_blank">The Global Environment Facility (GEF)</a> describes the illegal wildlife trade as "one of the most lucrative illegal businesses in the world." It's ranked as the world's fourth largest source of criminal earnings, generating up to <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/three-ways-united-nations-environment-programme-works-address-illegal-trade" target="_blank">U.S. $23 billion</a> annually. With so much money changing hands under the table, the trade has even become a global national security issue.</p><p>But even though environmental authorities may seize illegally traded animals and apprehend some smugglers, the study notes that law enforcement is not targeting the kingpins who mastermind the trade or its supply chains. As a result, this shadowy underworld industry thrives as it breeds widespread corruption, bribery, fraud, forgery, money laundering and smuggling.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, "Existing legislation does not consider wildlife trafficking a 'serious crime,'" and there are numerous loopholes and inconsistencies in laws, the report says. Since the illicit trade is such a lucrative business, mild penalties offer little deterrent. A six- to 12-month "detention" is common, which is just restriction of freedom — not jail time — or is negotiated down to a stint at community service.</p><p>In addition, the report documented extensive evidence of widespread fraud by both private and commercial breeders in Brazil who forged permits, mislabeled species declarations, and tampered with government-issued identification rings to sell illegally-acquired songbirds alongside those they legally breed. This particular market is largely domestic, feeding an entrenched Brazilian culture that keeps songbirds as pets. IBAMA, Brazil's environmental agency, estimated that in 2015 alone, some three million passerine birds were fraudulently listed with the government — 75% of all that were registered.</p>
<h3>Curbing Amazon Trafficking</h3><p>While the goal of the new report was not to make a comprehensive assessment of the international trade, the authors found that foreign buyers are driving much of it. "It seems that some Asian countries are sourcing more species in Brazil, such as sea cucumber, sea horses, ornamental fish, jaguars and shark fin," Ferreira said, adding that the U.S. is a top consumer of ornamental fish and leather made from pirarucu skin. Birds, amphibians and reptiles typically sell to European collectors, and the Middle East is a market for Amazon raptors.</p><p>Digital commerce — the internet, social media and messaging groups — have become key "sales offices" for wild animals and the products made from them. The "merchandise" itself is moved in every way imaginable: via cars, buses, boats, planes and overnight courier services. Human "mules" have been arrested with birds or eggs taped to their bodies or concealed in clothing. A porous, 8,000-mile border between Brazil and eight Amazon neighbors creates an easy flow. The Peruvian and Colombian borders in the Northwestern Amazon form a "particularly relevant hub" for trafficking, the report noted.</p>
<p>Combatting the trade requires that it be recognized and treated as a serious crime. More complete data is also needed that will allow for strategic planning and strengthened law enforcement, says lead author Sandra Charity. Stronger national laws that target professional traffickers would also allow for the implementation of the UN Convention on Organized Crime, she said.</p><p>Without a market, there is no commerce, so educating consumers is key, concludes Ferreira.</p><p>"Ultimately, it is a matter of choosing why we are buying that animal, or wildlife product, and if it is worth it …. Cultures are dynamic and need to evolve. We need to start to change the way we view wildlife as commodities," she said, and "we also need to understand that loving an animal does equal imprisoning them."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/brazilian-amazon-drained-of-millions-of-wild-animals-by-criminal-networks-report/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro meets Ronaldo Caiado, governor of the state of Goiás on June 5, 2020. Palácio do Planalto / CC BY 2.0
Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has presided over the world's second worst coronavirus outbreak after the U.S., said Tuesday that he had tested positive for the virus.
<p>The news comes after Bolsonaro has repeatedly dismissed the risk posed by the virus both to himself and others and argued against social distancing measures as a threat to the economy.</p><p>"In my particular case, because of my history as an athlete, in case I were contaminated by the virus I wouldn't need to worry. I wouldn't feel anything or it would be, at most, similar to a little flu, or a little cold," he said during a national television address March 24, as <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ap-explains-bolsonaro-downplayed-virus-fears-months-71663418" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p>
<p>His approach has earned him protests at home and worldwide criticism for allowing the virus to spread in his country, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-coronavirus.html?auth=login-googl" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. He fired one health minister in April over disagreements about how to respond to the pandemic and forced a second to quit less than a month later. The current health minister is an active-duty general with no medical experience. Brazil has now reported more than 1.6 million confirmed cases and more than 65,000 deaths, falling second only to the U.S. in both categories.</p><p>Bolsonaro took a test for the virus Monday after falling ill with fatigue, muscle pain and a fever. His illness occurred two days after he attended a Fourth of July lunch at the home of Brazil's U.S. Ambassador Todd Chapman, where Bolsonaro and other attendees were pictured sitting side by side without masks. The ambassador and his wife have since tested negative for the virus but are remaining in quarantine.</p>
<div id="30022" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e5f6f78f46c6841b83cc759e8840506"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1279475037574176768" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Na Embaixada dos EUA, celebrando o 4 de julho, dia da independência americana. https://t.co/CqtgUNxiSL</div> — Ernesto Araújo (@Ernesto Araújo)<a href="https://twitter.com/ernestofaraujo/statuses/1279475037574176768">1593885595.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>So far, Bolsonaro's diagnosis has not changed his tone. As he announced his test results, he continued to focus on the importance of reopening Brazil's economy.</p><p>"You can't just talk about the consequences of the virus that you have to worry about. Life goes on. Brazil needs to produce. You need to get the economy in gear,″ he said, according to The Associated Press.</p><p>He was also widely criticized on social media for taking off his mask while speaking to reporters about his diagnosis, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/brazilian-president-takes-off-mask-after-announcing-he-tested-positive-for-covid-19-6495517/" target="_blank">The Indian Express reported</a>.</p>
<div id="4ed4f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="512bc5e4d7e023188c02f9b493b51c16"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280543922331123713" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Bolsonaro, who has tested positive for coronavirus, just exposed every journalist to the virus, in case you were wo… https://t.co/cuTpNEwiMd</div> — Brian Tyler Cohen (@Brian Tyler Cohen)<a href="https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/statuses/1280543922331123713">1594140437.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Bolsonaro is an ally of U.S. President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/07/888137097/brazilian-president-jair-bolsonaro-tests-positive-for-coronavirus" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>, who has also been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-coronavirus-death-toll-2646357716.html" target="_self">criticized</a> for dismissing the severity of the pandemic. Like Trump, Bolsonaro has touted the benefits of hydroxychloroquine for treating the coronavirus, an anti-malaria drug that the Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-malaria-drugs-2646183392.html" target="_self">has warned</a> against taking for COVID-19.</p><p>But Bolsonaro said his medical team was treating him with the drug on Tuesday and that he was feeling "very well," according to The New York Times.</p><p>Politicians and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts said that Bolsonaro's diagnosis was unlikely to change Brazil's approach to the virus unless he grew seriously ill. The country is currently in the process of reopening.</p>
<p>"My concern is that he will use this to say, 'See, I'm fine, if you catch this you will survive,'" Rio de Janeiro community activist Day Medeiros told The New York Times. "Everything that happens to him has real repercussions in how people behave here. This is really serious."</p><p>But one analyst thought the diagnosis would ultimately harm Bolsoarno's political career.</p><p>"Despite publicly shrugging off his positive test for Covid-19, it marks the beginning of the end of his administration," Robert Muggah, director of Rio-based think tank the Igarape Institute, told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/08/coronavirus-bolsonaros-diagnosis-marks-beginning-of-the-end-for-his-administration.html" target="_blank">CNBC in an email</a>. "It is yet another visible expression of his recklessness and ineptitude."</p>
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The vast scale of native vegetation clearance for industrial soy cultivation in Brazil is apparent in this aerial image of the Cerrado. Jim Wickens Ecostorm / Mighty Earth (2017)
By Chris Arsenault
A first ever study has provided detailed estimates of greenhouse gas emissions across the entire soy producing agribusiness sector in Brazil. The study, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, found that countries and companies in the European Union and China importing soy from Brazil have driven deforestation there, causing a marked increase in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when the soy came from certain regions.
<p>While <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/14-straight-months-of-rising-amazon-deforestation-in-brazil/" target="_blank">deforestation in the Amazon rainforest</a> has garnered global attention, a new wave of precipitous native vegetation loss is being seen in the Cerrado, Brazil's savanna biome, and is a major cause of concern to climate change researchers. Brazil's Cerrado grasslands are being <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/we-are-invisible-brazilian-cerrado-quilombos-fight-for-land-and-lives/" target="_blank">cleared of forest</a> at an alarming rate to expand soy plantations — along with ranches — to meet global demand.</p><p>In fact, soy exported from newly cleared lands in some savanna municipalities caused the release of as much as 200 times more greenhouse gas emissions than soy coming from other parts of Brazil, according to the new study, which was conducted by researchers from Germany, together with partners from Spain, Belgium and Sweden.</p><p>The extreme regional disparities in emissions from different parts of the country came as a surprise to the researchers, and could offer a detailed map to policymakers as to where to focus carbon emission reduction efforts to achieve the greatest benefit.</p><p>"One of the big takeaways: there is no average supply chain for soy exports from Brazil. We need to take into account these [major] regional differences," in deforestation, transportation infrastructure, and resulting emissions, said Dr. Neus Escobar, the study's lead author and a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bonn in Germany.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDA2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjUwMTAzNH0.E_nAhS8BixQgvO9eGTajXD7gjMaL7vLSF7kgIOVHGuo/img.jpg?width=980" id="7361c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="52611a957c75326960085ff694269c68" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A soy plantation in the Brazilian Cerrado. Alicia Prager / Mongabay.
<p>The new Brazil-wide soy dataset also offers insights into how countries and companies contribute to carbon emissions via deforestation occurring in Brazil. The information could help nations and the soy commodities industry reduce deforestation, and thereby emissions, by fine tuning their supply chains, purchasing decisions and climate change mitigation plans.</p><p>"This gives crucial information to stakeholders to improve environmental performance," Escobar added in an interview with Mongabay. Companies importing Cerrado soy now have been alerted that deforestation there is producing high greenhouse gas emissions, so they can work actively with soy producers to avoid <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/for-brazilian-agribusiness-leaving-the-amazon-forested-is-a-problem/" target="_blank">clearing new land for Cerrado plantations</a>, she said.</p><p>Total greenhouse gas emissions from Brazilian soy exports were estimated at 223 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. China was the largest importer of Brazilian soy during the study period which ran from 2010 to 2015, and responsible for 51% of associated carbon dioxide emissions, while the European Union was responsible for 30%.</p><p>But per unit of soy, Europe's carbon footprint from Brazilian imports is larger than China's, the study said. European Union imports were also more likely to cause new deforestation (causing more recent carbon releases), compared to imports from China.</p><p>"This [finding] is surprising because China is a much bigger [soy] importer," Javier Godar, a study co-author and senior researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute said in an interview with Mongabay. "In the end, Europe is importing a bit more carbon dioxide emissions associated [with] deforestation embedded in soy [production] than China."</p><p>That's because much of the soy consumed in EU countries like Spain and Germany comes from the northern Cerrado where current rates of deforestation are especially high now, Godar explained. China, on the other hand, imports most of its Brazilian soy from the southern Cerrado, which has already converted a lot of its native vegetation to croplands.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDEwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDk0NDM1M30.xffL1okBH8bwIt-H-vOrnCaEPsbqWZdnhoFRZgoC0GI/img.jpg?width=980" id="7bb22" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1b4fade01f01d0e0f1b56075634b6201" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A tractor works to turn deforested land into a soy field in São Desidério, Bahia state, Brazil in 2017. Jim Wickens Ecostorm / Mighty Earth
“Underground Forest”
<p>Lucia von Reusner, campaign director at Mighty Earth, a U.S.-based environmental NGO, said the study is crucial for highlighting deforestation risks in Brazil's Cerrado. "It's one of the world's most biodiverse savannas and a huge concern for people who care about some of the world's most beautiful and threatened species." Also, "Deforestation is one of the biggest drivers of climate change."</p><p>The region has been dubbed an "underground forest" due to the complex root systems of shrubs and small trees, which retain soil and sequester tremendous sums of carbon, she added in an interview with Mongabay. "When the soy industry moves in, all of that is ripped up and burned. All the carbon stored in the roots, trees and soils is burned and released into the atmosphere."</p><p>The Cerrado, dubbed "Brazil's last agricultural frontier" has some of the highest deforestation rates in Latin America, von Reusner said, with only 50% of its native vegetation remaining. The greatest CO2 emissions occurring in the Cerrado during the 2010-15 study period arose in the so-called MATOPIBA region, comprising the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia. Though the study offered no current deforestation or carbon emission data, MATOPIBA continues to be an agribusiness powerhouse today, a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/communities-in-brazilian-cerrado-besieged-by-global-demand-for-soy/" target="_blank">center of soy production and deforestation</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDA4OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDU4MzQwM30._JX9XVHy8kPS1rOAdfCBL3QglbmmtFGcTUeqpgSAqv0/img.jpg?width=980" id="6f992" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0732fb50ab8b612e78f7b69910fc958e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
This map shows total carbon dioxide emissions embedded in Brazilian soy imports for different regions between 2010 and 2015. The European Union imported 67.6 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions embodied in Brazilian soy, while China imported 118.1 million tons of emissions. Escobar, N. et al.
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDA5MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MjQyMDc1Mn0.u_bpSeGKCITV5sOvN7YAkYmP-eL4nHohZ9BldXa5A4U/img.jpg?width=980" id="0239e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a1549c121c4ab75600e1c9f70e939ce0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
This graph shows total carbon dioxide emissions embodied by Brazil soy imports in major soy importing countries from 2010 to 2015. Escobar, N. et al.
Examining Total Emissions From Soy
<p>The study is the first to provide an estimate of greenhouse gas emissions across the entire soy sector in Brazil with such a high level of detail. To come to their conclusions, researchers analyzed data from 90,000 different soy supply chains between 2010 and 2015.</p><p>Soy is the most internationally traded agricultural commodity on earth, so analyzing data and strategies to reduce its impact on climate change is crucial for policymakers who want to preserve forests while simultaneously reducing emissions.</p><p>"This study does a good job in noting where along the supply chain we can pinpoint to reduce emissions," said University of California, Santa Barbara, land systems scientist Robert Heilmayr. He researches deforestation in Brazil and was not involved in the recent study.</p><p>The depth of the paper's data helps underscore how the Cerrado is "a new frontier in deforestation," he added, and establishes the importance of including the savanna in any plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as compared to other soy producing regions of Brazil.</p><p>In the Amazon rainforest, a moratorium on clearing new lands for soy was launched in 2006, which <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/01/brazils-soy-moratorium-dramatically-reduced-amazon-deforestation/" target="_blank">greatly reduced</a> the conversion of rainforests to make way for new soy plantations. The moratorium continues to work, though <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/14-straight-months-of-rising-amazon-deforestation-in-brazil/" target="_blank">Amazon deforestation is increasing</a> due to intense cattle ranching and mining pressures. One study found that the slowing of soy growth in Amazonia, merely <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/saving-the-amazon-has-come-at-the-cost-of-cerrado-deforestation-study/" target="_blank">shifted and intensified</a> soy production in the Cerrado.</p><p>Extending the Amazon Soy Moratorium into the Cerrado, via the so-called <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/cerrado-manifesto-could-curb-deforestation-but-needs-support-experts/" target="_blank">Cerrado Manifesto</a> or <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/14-straight-months-of-rising-amazon-deforestation-in-brazil/" target="_blank">other initiatives</a> — something transnational commodities companies have strongly resisted — could help reduce deforestation related to soy there, Heilmayr and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/more-companies-sign-on-to-cerrado-manifesto/" target="_blank">others contend</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxNDA5NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTcxMTA4N30.5PEar6sGahRvQ-vumiP3U0hUOhue29M99R13__oLrDU/img.jpg?width=980" id="bf665" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a08b7a1bdbff1ed8d3cf020037c02921" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Data was gathered from 90,000 soy supply chains and shows how the amount of greenhouse gases released from soy production, processing and export varies between Brazilian municipalities, and from year to year. This map indicates carbon dioxide emissions from soy exports from around Brazil between 2010-15. Escobar, N. et al.
Complicated Supply Chains
<p>Deforestation isn't the only cause of soy-related emissions, Escobar explained. Transportation of soy from remote rural production areas to the South American coast especially by truck is another significant driver of carbon emissions.</p><p>In some inland communities in Brazil's center-west region, where poor infrastructure means soy needs to be trucked over long distances, transportation accounts for about 60% of total carbon emissions, especially from export-oriented municipalities in Goiás and Mato Grosso states. This has in part justified vigorous efforts to construct less carbon intensive <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/grainrail-2nd-revolution-in-brazilian-agribusiness-and-amazon-threat/" target="_blank">rail lines</a> and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/01/battle-for-the-amazon-tapajos-basin-threatened-by-massive-development/" target="_blank">industrial waterways</a> connecting Brazil's interior with its coastal ports — though environmentalists worry about the deforestation such infrastructure might bring with it.</p><p>The global trade in agricultural food products more than doubled between 2000 and 2015, from US$600 billion to over US$1,300 billion, according to data from the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). But most of the soy exported from Brazil isn't actually eaten by people, explained Reusner; it's primarily used for animal feed or biodiesel.</p><p>To produce enough food for a growing global population, she said transnational companies should incentivize producers to not clear forests for new plantations, but plant soy on land that's already been degraded. <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/brazil-has-the-tools-to-end-amazon-deforestation-now-report/" target="_blank">Studies have shown</a> that Brazil has plenty of degraded land to meet global commodity demands, without causing any new deforestation.</p><p>"There is enough degraded land across Latin America to meet the needs of global markets to avoid compromising some of our last remaining ecosystems," she said.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Artists pay homage to the fatal victims of COVID-19 during the performance "Whoever left is someone's love" at Brasília's Catedral on June 15, 2020 in Brasília, Brazil. Andressa Anholete / Getty Images
Brazil officially surpassed 50,600 COVID-19 deaths on Sunday, making the South American nation the second largest coronavirus hot spot after the U.S.
<p><br/></p>
<p>Recent figures put the total number of confirmed cases at more than 1,086,990 and 50,659 deaths. The recovery rate is just above 53 percent, according to <a href="https://www.coronatracker.com/country/brazil/" target="_blank">CoronaTracker</a>. Reuters <a href="https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN23S0UB" target="_blank">reports</a> that officials expect the actual numbers to be much higher because of a lack of nationwide testing – typically the country has recorded more than 1,000 deaths per day but registers less over the weekend.</p>
<p>On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) also announced the largest single-day increase of cases around the world, with more than 183,000 new cases of COVID-19 having been reported to the WHO in what Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described as "easily the most in a single day so far." More than 9 million cases have been reported since the health agency <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen" target="_blank">declared</a> the severe respiratory disease a global pandemic in March.</p><p>"Some countries are continuing to see a rapid increase in cases and deaths. Some countries that have successfully suppressed transmission are now seeing an upswing in cases as they reopen their societies and economies," said Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Monday's <a href="https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---22-june-2020" target="_blank">press briefing</a>.</p>
<p>"All countries are facing a delicate balance, between protecting their people, while minimizing the social and economic damage. It's not a choice between lives and livelihoods. Countries can do both."</p><p>The BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-latin-america-53132225" target="_blank">reports</a> that São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have seen the largest spikes at 12,500 and 8,800 deaths, respectively. More than 12,000 additional deaths have been reported in the northern states of Amazonas, Pará and Ceará.</p><p>A report <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/brazil-coronavirus-cases.html" target="_blank">conducted</a> by the New York Times largely faults government responses and measures for the increase in cases. Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro previously dismissed dangers of COVID-19, calling the virus a "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">measly cold</a>" and has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/16/world/americas/virus-brazil-deaths.html" target="_blank">stalled</a> quarantine measures with unclear responses and a chaotic approach. Additionally, the Ministry of Health has not put forth a comprehensive plan and the nation has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/brazil-coronavirus-cases.html" target="_blank">unsuccessful</a> in importing coronavirus tests, ventilators and other potentially lifesaving equipment.</p>
<p>Brazil is second in cases only to the US, which has reported more than 2.2 million – a 32,411 increase in just one day. There have been over 119,000 deaths across the nation, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html" target="_blank">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>. According to data compiled by <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University of Medicine</a>, over 9 million people have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 with more than 469,000 deaths across the globe. Experts caution that those numbers are likely to be much higher given a lack of worldwide testing, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-cases-daily-record-world-health-organization/" target="_blank">reports</a> CBS News.</p>
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Amazon river dolphins are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Sylvain CORDIER / Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images
By Peter Yeung
A pair of pink Amazon river dolphins emerges for just a moment, arcing above the chocolate brown waters inside the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development, a research facility at the tropical heart of the Brazilian Amazon. Powerful jets of water spray out of their blowholes as these freshwater mammals take in air before submerging.
<p>Moments later the duo reappear on the other side of the Japurá River, playfully dovetailing, and skirting the edge of the <em>várzea</em> rainforest — a seasonal floodplain where, in this part of Amazonia, river levels can rise and fall by up to 12 meters (39 feet) a year, at times opening up vast swathes of rainforest to these graceful swimmers.</p><p>"They are very special creatures," says Natanael dos Santos, a guide working at the Mamirauá Institute. "They are extremely intelligent and can display a complex set of behaviors, even like humans." These skilled, sharp-toothed hunters, often reaching more than eight feet in length, are well adapted to shifting river levels. During highwater periods they penetrate deep into the rainforest using echolocation to search murky pools amid submerged tree roots for prey including dozens of fish species, turtles and freshwater crabs.</p><p>The Amazon river dolphin (<em>Inia geoffrensis</em>) or boto, already <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/10831/50358152" target="_blank">classified as "endangered"</a> since 2018 by the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is now coming under even more serious threat across Brazil and Latin America. An estimated population in the <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/amazon-river-dolphin" target="_blank">low tens of thousands</a> is thought to exist in the wild, though counting the animals accurately in the Amazon's murky streams is challenging. Like other river dolphins, the boto communicates with variable whistle tones.</p><p>Occupying the Amazon and Orinoco river basins, which cut across the northern half of the South American continent, these freshwater mammals were historically abundant, and are protected today by Brazilian law; it is illegal to kill them. But for years, poachers have <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261359911_Insights_on_the_use_of_dolphins_boto_Inia_geoffrensis_and_tucuxi_Sotalia_fluviatilis_for_bait_in_the_piracatinga_Calophysus_macropterus_fishery_in_the_Western_Brazilian_Amazon" target="_blank">targeted the dolphins</a>, using their fatty blubber as bait to catch a carnivorous catfish called <em>piracatinga</em>, which is drawn to the scent of rotting flesh.</p>
<p>In January 2015, under the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, that chronic criminal behavior led to the introduction of a <a href="https://infoamazonia.org/pt/2015/03/amazon-fishermen-want-to-reduce-time-of-moratorium-on-piracatinga-fish/#!/story=post-12510&loc=-4.389559200000014,-64.55674760000001,7" target="_blank">five-year moratorium</a> on catching <em>piracatinga</em> in order to better protect the dolphins.</p><p>But that moratorium ended earlier this year and has yet to be renewed by the Jair Bolsonaro administration, which is undermining many other of Brazil's environmental laws. Experts warn that the failure to extend it could lead to the extinction of the largest freshwater dolphin in the world — a fate that befell <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/08/endangeredspecies.conservation" target="_blank">China's Yangtze river dolphin (</a><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/08/endangeredspecies.conservation" target="_blank"><em>Lipotes vexillifer</em></a><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/08/endangeredspecies.conservation" target="_blank"><em>)</em></a> in 2007, following years of overfishing, pollution and habitat degradation.</p><p>"I believe [the lack of a moratorium] could make them extinct," warns Dr. Vera da Silva, a researcher for INPA, the Amazon research institute, who has been studying Amazonia's dolphins for more than 30 years. "Not all the objectives of the moratorium were fulfilled, therefore the moratorium must be extended," she explained.</p><p>Research by da Silva, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-abstract/123/3/666/4888610" target="_blank">published in 2017</a>, found that a female dolphin's pregnancy typically lasts 13 months. After that, the mother feeds a calf underwater for two years. Due to that long gestation and nursing period, females only reproduce every three to five years.</p><p>"They are a very slow reproductive species," da Silva notes. "If the removal is higher [than the reproduction and rearing rate] the species does not have the capacity to replace itself."</p><p>Separate <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0191304" target="_blank">findings</a> by da Silva published in 2018 revealed that the Amazon river dolphin population in Brazil is halving every decade.</p>
<p>Prosecutors in Amazonas state, where the Mamirauá Institute is based, originally asked for the moratorium which started in 2015, warning that as many as 2,500 dolphins were being killed illegally each year for bait.</p><p>Da Silva reports that in November 2019 she met with officials from the Secretariat of Production of the State of Amazonas (SEPROR), to discuss the extension of the moratorium in Amazonas. But nothing has happened since, and the peak fishing season is due to begin in July.</p><p>"There is a huge amount of ignorance," she warns. "We need better information on fishing practices. There aren't strong enough laws to make fishermen report what they catch."</p><p>Marcelo Oliveira, a conservation specialist at World Wildlife Fund Brazil (WWF), agrees with that analysis. "Fishing is a threat but we don't have enough data," he says. "If we don't know where the river dolphins are, we can't say how bad [the threat] is. But it's expensive to do expeditions to monitor population trends."</p><p>WWF has been innovating — utilizing drones to accomplish the difficult job of making improved population estimates, flying 2.5 kilometer strips of river to record footage. "It's much cheaper and more efficient," than doing boat observations, he says. The NGO is currently partnering with British universities to analyze the drone findings using artificial intelligence.</p><p><span></span>But even with better data recording practices and an improved data set, Oliveira says that the river dolphins are still at great risk from a broad range of threats. "Bycatch sees so many dolphins caught in fishing nets, gold mining in the region has led to mercury poisoning in the water, and the construction of hydroelectric dams has reduced their habitat and genetic pool," he explains.</p>
<p>Oliveira believes that for now the focus of dolphin conservation should be on improved community engagement across the Amazon basin, with strong outreach to fishermen, in a region whose burgeoning population has now topped 34 million.</p><p>"Extending the moratorium could be a way to protect the dolphins, alternative baits could be a way, but we need to have a balance between development and biodiversity conservation," he says. "It's not a fight between the two. If communities are involved in conservation, the dolphins will be safer."</p><p>Fernando Trujillo, scientific director of the <a href="https://omacha.org/" target="_blank">Fundacion Omacha</a>, a Colombia-based environmental NGO specializing in protecting river dolphins set up in 1993, says that conservation must also be addressed on an international level.</p><p>"The end of [Brazil's] moratorium will send out the message that fishing is okay — even in other countries across Latin America," he says. "We need to work together with all the countries in terms of policy, agreeing on the same criteria and same legislation, especially when it comes to monitoring the borders."</p><p>Trujillo, who is also co-chair of the International Whaling Commission's small cetaceans committee, is calling for the Brazil moratorium to be extended another five years. "For so many reasons, it's a species we need to conserve and save," he says. "Alive dolphins can produce more money than dead ones for local communities through ecotourism."</p>
<p>Indigenous beliefs hold that the river dolphin — which transforms from grey to pink as it ages — is a magical creature. Males and females are both said to have the ability to morph at will into either a handsome man, or beautiful woman respectively, in order to seduce villagers in the dark of night. But scientists see the mammals as top predators of the Amazon aquatic ecosystem — considering them the jaguars of the rivers.</p><p>A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply said it had not yet extended the moratorium because "it is necessary to evaluate its effects on the recovery of populations of porpoises and caimans in order to verify the effectiveness of this fisheries management measure." When asked by Mongabay to comment, the ministry did not provide a timeframe for this evaluation period.</p><p>There is another myth about the Amazon river dolphin. It is said that to kill one is bad luck. Not knowing what negative aquatic impacts might radiate from the extinction of this top predator, authorities may want to heed this legend as they try to decide whether or not to renew Brazil's moratorium.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/amazon-river-dolphin-risks-extinction-if-brazil-moratorium-not-renewed/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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As Amazonian Wildfire Season Approaches, We Must Protect the Vulnerable Forest
15 June
Insights + Opinion
NASA satellite image showing fires raging across the Amazon rainforest on Aug. 11, 2019. NASA
By Daniel Ross
The wildfires that tore across Australia were as devastating as they were overwhelming, scorching some 15 million hectares of land, killing 34 people and more than 1 billion animals. In terms of its apocalyptic imagery — sweeping infernos torching great swaths with unerring speed — Australia's wildfires were hauntingly reminiscent of the fires that roared through the Amazon rainforest over the past year. Indeed, more than 80,000 fires hit the region during 2019, according to the Brazilian government.
<p>Though many months have now passed since global media focused on the unfolding disaster in the Amazon — one of the world's most <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-11-forests-amazon-important-carbon.html" target="_blank">important carbon sinks</a> — the problem has far from disappeared. Indeed, as the region gears up toward its next Amazon wildfire season, the causes underpinning the problem — like illegal logging, encroachment from agribusinesses and profit-driven government policies — remain very much at play.</p><p>And though uncertainty surrounds some of the short- and long-term impacts of increased commercial activity in the Brazilian Amazon, the consequences on a rapidly warming planet are stark indeed. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51464694" target="_blank">New research</a> suggests that some <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">deforested</a> regions of the rainforest are exhaling more carbon dioxide than they're taking in.</p>
<p>What's more, experts and environmentalists are quick to point the finger of blame toward a principal factor: a government presided over by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose tenure has been characterized by aggressive deregulation and increased commercial exploitation of the Amazon's resources.</p><p>"The impact is obvious: We have much more deforestation," said Philip Fearnside, an ecologist at the National Institute for Research in Amazonia in Brazil, earlier this year. Even before Bolsonaro took office officially, Fearnside <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/why-brazils-new-president-poses-an-unprecedented-threat-to-the-amazon" target="_blank">sounded the alarm</a> about the Brazilian president's intentions in the Amazon. And with Bolsonaro well into the second year of his tenure, "he's made good on those promises," Fearnside added.</p><p>Indeed, in the year ending on July 30, 2019, more than <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/brazil-revises-deforestation-data-amazon-rainforest-loss-topped-10000-sq-km-in-2019/" target="_blank">10,000 square kilometers</a> of Brazilian Amazon rainforest were lost through deforestation — an amount last topped in 2008, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. The number of active fires in August 2019 was three times higher than in 2018 and the highest number since 2010. The broad ramifications of these trends are far from clear-cut.</p>
<p>According to Jos Barlow, a professor of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> science at Lancaster University, England, "<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.14872" target="_blank">different fire types have very different behaviors</a>," with varying severities of impact. While "understory" forest fires have the smallest flame heights and burn slowly across the forest floor, for example, "they also have long-lasting impacts, killing around 50 percent of all trees, with mortality occurring for many years after the fire," Barlow wrote in an email.</p><p>And so, "How long will it take for forests to recover biomass and primary forest species composition?" Barlow asked. "Will they fully recover, or will they be locked into a lower biomass state?"</p><p>Then there's the potential impact on the climate. For the first six months of 2019, deforestation and fires in the Brazilian Amazon released as much as <a href="https://whrc.org/new-data-brazilian-amazon-fires-have-released-104-141-million-metric-tons-of-co2/" target="_blank">141 million metric tons of carbon dioxide</a>, according to research led by the Woods Hole Research Center. As César Terrer, a postdoctoral scholar in Earth system science at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, explains it, the destruction of the Amazon through logging and wildfires means "we're also limiting the potential of current plants to continue storing CO2."</p>
<p>Terrer led a <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/press/view/29425" target="_blank">study</a> using anticipated carbon dioxide levels for the end of the century and found that plant biomass should increase by 12 percent as a result — an increase that would help enable plants and trees to store more carbon dioxide. "A 12 percent increase is huge," Terrer said in a phone interview. "For the Amazon in particular, that's more than 15 billion tons of carbon," he added, explaining that this amount is equivalent to "all the carbon stored in all the trees in all the forests" in the United States. "They could store all that additional carbon for free, if we let them be."</p><p>The problem? That 12 percent increase is predicated upon current plant biomass levels remaining as they currently are. Instead, "we're increasing deforestation rates in the Amazon, which is hugely important for the climate," Terrer said. "I'm strongly concerned."</p>
<p>After the turn of the century, Brazil appeared to be wrestling the problem of a shrinking Amazon. Between 2004 and 2012, Brazil employed an action plan instituting a number of key provisions, including an expanded network of protected areas alongside market incentives and disincentives, like a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/194008291300600308" target="_blank">successful deforestation moratorium</a> agreed to by nearly all soybean processors and exporters in Brazil. Deforestation rates during that time <a href="https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/deforestation_calculations.html" target="_blank">plummeted</a>.</p><p>But 2012 marked a turning point. Since then, deforestation has been ticking upwards — 2016, for example, saw a <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/business-as-usual-a-resurgence-of-deforestation-in-the-brazilian-amazon" target="_blank">29 percent increase</a>.</p><p>The administration under Bolsonaro has used that fact to justify its policies in the Amazon, said Fearnside. "There were lots of things happening before Bolsonaro took office, but Bolsonaro has certainly increased that [deforestation] substantially," Fearnside said, pointing to the myriad ways his actions have played out.</p>
<p>The current Brazilian president has taken various measures to weaken the country's environment ministry — the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) — not least of all by tapping Ricardo Salles to lead it. Salles has called <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a> an "innocuous" and "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/10/environmental-fines-are-ideological-says-brazil-minister-ricardo-salles" target="_blank">secondary</a>" issue, and has characterized the rate of illegal deforestation in the Amazon as near "<a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ambiente/2019/07/ricardo-salles-afirma-que-amazonia-ja-tem-desmatamento-relativo-zero.shtml" target="_blank">zero</a>." The director of Brazil's Space Research Institute was fired when the agency's own calculations — which illustrated a <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/scienceandhealth/2019/08/amazon-deforestation-in-july-increased-278-over-same-period-in-2018.shtml" target="_blank">278 percent increase in deforestation</a> last July — disproved Salles's claims.</p><p>The environment ministry has also stepped back its regulatory oversight. Though <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environmental-conservation/article/brazils-new-president-and-ruralists-threaten-amazonias-environment-traditional-peoples-and-the-global-climate/F5C1E42BF9F6E6BDDB957B87601FC4F7/core-reader" target="_blank">95 percent of the deforestation</a> that occurred in the first three months of Bolsonaro's tenure was illegal, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environmental-conservation/article/brazils-new-president-and-ruralists-threaten-amazonias-environment-traditional-peoples-and-the-global-climate/F5C1E42BF9F6E6BDDB957B87601FC4F7" target="_blank">no offenders</a> were punished. Indeed, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/28/world/americas/brazil-deforestation-amazon-bolsonaro.html" target="_blank">New York Times analysis</a> found that IBAMA's enforcement actions fell by 20 percent during the first half of 2019, as compared with the year prior. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/02/war-for-survival-brazils-amazon-tribes-despair-as-land-raids-surge-under-bolsonaro" target="_blank">Increased land</a> raids have impacted Indigenous populations in particular.</p><p>"President Bolsonaro of Brazil is encouraging the farm owners near our lands to clear the forest," <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/02/amazon-destruction-earth-brazilian-kayapo-people" target="_blank">wrote</a> Raoni Metuktire, chief of the Indigenous Brazilian Kayapo people. "And he is not doing anything to prevent them from invading our territory."</p>
<p>Some of Bolsonaro's actions have been met with opprobrium among certain sectors of Brazil's corporate class. Blairo Maggi, a billionaire soybean producer and former agriculture minister, has warned of international condemnation of the government's excursions into the Amazon. "The farmers, associations and industry will have to redo what has been lost," he told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/world/americas/amazon-fires-bolsonaro-photos.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "We retreated 10 steps; we will have to work to get back to where we were."</p><p>Nevertheless, "there are large parts of the agribusiness that are on the other side," said Fearnside, pointing to the <a href="https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-43662020000100008&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en" target="_blank">thriving soybean industry</a> in Matopiba, a vast region spanning four Brazilian states. And where is this produce going? In 2017, <a href="https://www.globalcanopy.org/sites/default/files/documents/resources/Brief_DM_soy_final.pdf" target="_blank">92 percent</a> of the soybeans grown for the domestic market in Brazil were used to feed livestock to supply the world's demand for meat.</p><p>"The soy farmers there are all on the bandwagon of denying climate change, which is incredible given that climate change is likely to wipe out their soybean business there," Fearnside said.</p><p>With Bolsonaro only about one year and a half into his presidency, Fearnside is understandably concerned about his remaining tenure and describes the actions already undertaken as having opened up a Pandora's box. This includes the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2020/01/wildfire-pollution-worsens-air-quality.aspx" target="_blank">human health impacts</a> from wildfire-created air pollution on both nearby and <a href="https://www.enn.com/articles/61766-brazilian-wildfire-pollution-worsens-air-quality-in-distant-cities" target="_blank">distant</a> urban centers — even intensifying <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50573623" target="_blank">glacier melt in the Andes</a>.</p><p>Other experts agree with Fearnside. According to Jos Barlow earlier this year, all indications suggested that 2020 would be "even worse." That prophecy is proving true, with deforestation <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/brazil-revises-deforestation-data-amazon-rainforest-loss-topped-10000-sq-km-in-2019/" target="_blank">rates currently on pace</a> to surpass last year's.</p>
<p><em>An earlier version of this article first appeared on </em><a href="https://truthout.org/articles/as-amazonian-wildfire-season-approaches-we-must-protect-the-vulnerable-forest/" target="_blank"><em>Truthout</em></a><em> and was produced in partnership with </em><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" target="_blank"><em>Earth | Food | Life</em></a><em>, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A lone burnt tree stands on a deforested area in the surroundings of Porto Velho, Rondonia State, in the Amazon basin in west-central Brazil, on Aug. 24, 2019. CARL DE SOUZA / AFP / Getty Images
By Ajit Niranjan
Civil society groups and public prosecutors in Brazil are taking President Jair Bolsonaro's government to court for failing to protect the Amazon rainforest, adding pressure to an administration already under fire for mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic.
<p>Lawsuits filed last week challenge the government on two fronts: reducing inspections of exported timber — while demoting the environment agency expert whose team advised against it — and freezing climate funds to preserve forests that other countries also rely on to offset their carbon emissions.</p><p><br/></p>
<p>They are among a series of legal challenges that have been launched in Brazil after a tumultuous year-and-a-half of Bolsonaro rule. His administration has overseen a rise in deforestation, attacked the rights of people indigenous to the Amazon and relaxed rules to prevent illegal <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/amazon-deforestation-eu-firms-linked-to-illegal-logging-in-brazil/a-48442226" target="_blank">logging</a>, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mass-deforestation-how-trade-fells-trees-in-brazil-and-indonesia/a-48280649" target="_blank">ranching</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazils-amazon-rainforest-has-become-the-wild-west-for-illegal-gold-miners/a-52623368" target="_blank">mining</a>.</p><p>Bolsonaro is a climate change denier who considers the environment to be a kind of enemy, said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of Brazil-based think tank Climate Observatory, which provided the legal analysis behind the lawsuits. "It's very hard to believe Bolsonaro will change his behavior or mindset. What we really need to do is neutralize the attacks on the environment."</p>
<p>In recent weeks, the Brazilian government has been rebuked by foreign governments, investors and businesses for enabling deforestation — and by courts and protestors at home for <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/where-could-brazils-criminal-investigation-of-jair-bolsonaro-lead/a-53284984" target="_blank">political interference</a> and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>Brazil's supreme court ordered the government on Monday to resume publishing <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/supreme-court-rules-brazil-must-share-virus-data/a-53754069" target="_blank">coronavirus statistics</a> after it purged the health ministry website of COVID-19 case numbers and death tolls. The virus has killed more than 37,000 people in Brazil, which has the second-most coronavirus cases in the world behind only the U.S. "The manipulation of statistics is a maneuver of totalitarian regimes," said supreme court judge Gilmar Mendes. "The trick will not exempt responsibility for the eventual genocide."</p><p>Deforestation, meanwhile, had already last year hit its highest level since 2008. On Tuesday the country's space research agency INPE revised its estimates, saying it they were higher than previously thought. Using satellite data, the scientists calculated that year-on-year <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-reports-even-more-deforestation-after-revising-data/a-53767938" target="_blank">deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon</a> rose by 34 percent between August 2018 and July 2019, felling an area of forest about as big as Jamaica.</p><p>Georg Witschel, Germany's ambassador to Brazil, told <a href="https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2020/06/11/desmatamento-na-amazonia-faz-cada-vez-mais-dificil-acordo-ue-mercosul-diz-embaixador-alemao.ghtml" target="_blank">Brazilian news outlet G1</a> on Thursday that deforestation makes it "increasingly difficult" to ratify the free trade agreement between the EU and South American trade bloc Mercosur.</p>
Coronavirus and Deforestation
<p>Brazil's environmental and health crises are closely linked. The coronavirus pandemic had given fresh impetus to land grabbers razing swathes of forests as lockdowns have kept law enforcement officers at home.</p><p>Now, the fires that typically follow the felling of trees could further strain health systems.</p><p>Blazing wildfires, like the ones that devastated the Amazon last year, spout pollutants that lower air quality and work their way into people's lungs, exacerbating the same <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-air-pollution-might-raise-risk-of-fatality/a-52977422" target="_blank">breathing diseases</a> that leave people more vulnerable to the coronavirus. A joint peak in forest fires and COVID-19 cases could overwhelm hospitals without "incisive intervention by the State to curb illegal acts," according to a report published in May by INPE.</p><p>That could collapse health systems in several Amazonian states that are already operating at the limit, the authors wrote. "If the turning point of the epidemiological curve of COVID-19 does not occur immediately, in May 2020, there will certainly be an overlap of fires with the pandemic."</p><p>This could spell disaster for indigenous peoples and uncontacted tribes, said Sarah Shenker, a campaigner with Survival International. "In Brazil, there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes and they could be wiped out if invaders are not removed from their territory."</p><p>Even before the current coronavirus crisis, scientists warned that <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/how-deforestation-can-lead-to-more-infectious-diseases/a-53282244" target="_blank">forest loss makes pandemics more likely</a> by increasing the chance that diseases jump from animals to humans. A study published in the journal PNAS in October found that deforestation of the Amazon significantly increases transmission of malaria, a different type of disease.</p>Preserving the Climate
<p>The Amazon rainforest — 60 percent of which lies in Brazil — is one of the world's great carbon sinks. Preserving its trees and plants is crucial to meeting international targets that <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/co2-emissions-gap-un-report-warns-of-collective-failure-to-act/a-51407286" target="_blank">limit global warming</a> to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.</p><p>Lawsuits that take years to complete are not going to produce results fast enough, said Ricardo Galvao, a former director of INPE who was <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazils-research-chief-sacked-after-deforestation-row-with-bolsonaro/a-49874119" target="_blank">fired by Bolsonaro</a> in August.</p><p>To curb deforestation in the Amazon, said Galvao, the best tools are "positive actions that show [that] exploring the forest, rather than destroying it, gives economic returns." For instance, international organizations like the UN could certify products from sustainably managed forests and countries could lower import taxes on such "green-stamped" goods.</p><p>Brazil has a legal commitment to reduce deforestation in the Amazon to a rate equivalent to about 3,900 square kilometers per year from 2020 onwards. In 2012, measures to protect the Amazon had brought deforestation down to 4,600 square kilometers, close to the target, but by 2019, it had rebounded to 9,800 square kilometers. </p><p>The Brazilian government, which in May brought in the military to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-deploys-military-to-protect-amazon-rainforest/a-53398270" target="_blank">protect the forest</a>, has disputed its image as an environmental pariah. "We are the country that most preserves the environment in the world," said Bolsonaro on World Environment Day last week. "Unjustly, [we are] the most attacked."</p><p>Data from Brazil's Institute of Socioeconomic Studies show government spending on forest inspection dropped from R$17.4 million (US$3.5 million, €3.1 million) to R$5.3 million from the first five months of 2019 to the same period in 2020, while funding for activities under Brazil's national climate change plan were cut from R$436 million last year to R$247 million this year.</p><p>Ibama, the Brazilian environment agency, did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p>Big tracts of the rainforest have no recorded owner, making it easier to illegally grab land, and a lack of law enforcement can even mean that farmers who comply with regulations struggle to compete with those who don't.</p><p>Working with sustainable farmers and fixing land ownership structures could help Brazil slow deforestation during the coronavirus pandemic and recession, said Monica De Los Rios, Brazil coordinator at the nonprofit Earth Innovation Institute. "This is the most critical moment in the history of the Amazon."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/to-stop-amazon-deforestation-brazilian-groups-take-bolsonaro-to-court/a-53785160" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646172097#/" target="_self"></a></em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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In 'Totalitarian' Move, Brazil's Bolsonaro Removes Death and Case Totals From Coronavirus Website
08 June
Politics
Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro speaks with supporters at Alvorada Palace on June 05, 2020 in Brasilia, Brazil. Brazil has over 614,000 confirmed positive cases of Coronavirus and OVER 34,000 deaths. Andressa Anholete / Getty Images
President Donald Trump isn't the only world leader who has been criticized for sidelining science in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/brazil" target="_self">Brazil's</a> Health Ministry removed the total number of coronavirus cases and deaths from a government <a href="https://covid.saude.gov.br/" target="_blank">website</a> Saturday, <a href="https://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKKBN23D0Q4" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. And health ministry employees told local media that the scrubbing was ordered by far-right President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jair-bolsonaro" target="_self">Jair Bolsonaro</a>, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/07/brazil-stops-releasing-covid-19-death-toll-and-wipes-data-from-official-site" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"The manipulation of statistics is a manoeuvre of totalitarian regimes," Supreme Court Judge Gilmar Mendes tweeted in response. "The trick will not exempt responsibility for the eventual genocide."</p>
<div id="9ad4a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cf371bf78165edee6d4a710071db85b9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1269399102242119686" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A manipulação de estatísticas é manobra de regimes totalitários. Tenta-se ocultar os números da #COVID19 para reduz… https://t.co/ykIvshjy6m</div> — Gilmar Mendes (@Gilmar Mendes)<a href="https://twitter.com/gilmarmendes/statuses/1269399102242119686">1591483304.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The government coronavirus tracking website was taken down Friday and reloaded Saturday with only data on cases, deaths and recoveries in the past 24 hours, according to Reuters.</p><p>"The cumulative data ... does not reflect the moment the country is in," Bolsonaro tweeted, as Reuters translated. "Other actions are underway to improve the reporting of cases and confirmation of diagnoses."</p>
<div id="1c66b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="587ff3ba139eb9b2467a3df02021dfbc"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1269241529387888640" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">3- Ao acumular dados, além de não indicar que a maior parcela já não está com a doença, não retratam o momento do p… https://t.co/zBWryV5IDl</div> — Jair M. Bolsonaro (@Jair M. Bolsonaro)<a href="https://twitter.com/jairbolsonaro/statuses/1269241529387888640">1591445736.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>However, the website change comes as Brazil battles one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-latin-america-52952686" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. It has more than 640,000 confirmed cases, behind only the U.S., and more than 35,000 deaths, the third largest death toll after the U.S. and the UK. The move also came after the country reported more than 1,000 deaths for four days in a row.</p><p>The website change was widely condemned by journalists, members of Congress and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> officials.</p><p>"The authoritarian, insensitive, inhuman and unethical attempt to make those killed by Covid-19 invisible will not succeed. We and Brazilian society will not forget them, nor the tragedy that befalls the nation," the president of Brazil's national council of state health secretaries Alberto Beltrame said in a statement reported by The Guardian.</p>
<p>Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the pandemic, calling it a "little flu" and arguing against lockdown measures, according to BBC News. On Friday, he threatened to exit the World Health Organization.</p><p>Before the website change, the government was also criticized for pushing back the publication of its daily virus update from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., according to Reuters.</p><p>In response, head of the Brazilian Press Association Paulo Jeronimo de Sousa accused the government of "trying to silence the press at this late hour."</p><p>"Transparency of information is a powerful instrument for combating the epidemic," he wrote, according to Reuters.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dismantles-environmental-protections-under-cover-of-coronavirus-2645989316.html" target="_self">Also like the Trump administration</a>, the Bolsonaro government has used to coronavirus crisis to accelerate its deregulatory environmental agenda.</p><p>Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said in April the pandemic was a good time to loosen protections.</p><p>"We need to make an effort here during this period of calm in terms of press coverage because people are only talking about Covid," he said, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/world/americas/amazon-deforestation-brazil.html?campaign_id=51&emc=edit_MBE_p_20200608&instance_id=19175&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=88631294&section=longRead&segment_id=30326&te=1&user_id=d8eb7cee9d3c5ab39515239b6ec54d19" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</p>
<p>Lax law enforcement because of the outbreak has led to increased <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a> in the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/amazon-rainforest" target="_self">Amazon rainforest</a> in recent months, The New York Times reported Monday. This is likely to lead to even worse <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a> than the ones that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-rainforest-wildfires-2639934452.html" target="_self">devastated</a> the forest last summer.</p><p>"The trend line is shooting upward compared to a year that was already historic in terms of a rise in deforestation," Brazilian federal prosecutor Ana Carolina Haliuc Bragança told The New York Times. "If state entities don't adopt very decisive measures, we're looking at a likely tragedy."</p>
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Aerial picture showing a deforested piece of land in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil on August 23, 2019. Carl de Souza / AFP / Getty Images
by Rhett A. Butler
Despite the global economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon appears to be continuing largely unabated with forest clearing over the past 12 months reaching the highest level since monthly data started being released publicly in 2007, according to official data released Friday by the country's national space research institute INPE. Forest loss in Earth's largest rainforest has now risen 13 consecutive months relative to year-earlier figures.
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<p>INPE's deforestation monitoring system, DETER, detected 406 square kilometers of forest loss in the "legal Amazon" during the month of April. That brings the extent of deforestation measured by the system to 9,320 square kilometers for the year ended April 30, 2020, 40% higher than where it stood a year ago and more than twice as high as it was in April 2018.</p><p>5,606 square kilometers of forest have been lost since the "deforestation year" began August 1, 2019, the highest on record for this time of year.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI3NTY4Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzg0NzM2N30.vg4xwAE29rAxqwMPxi780ulRhQODrJrVVm-k2o-nQcE/img.jpg?width=980" id="904be" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d3abf923ab48f5882a02e486610d988d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of <a href="https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/" target="_blank">the Amazon rainforest</a>, has been trending upward since bottoming at 4,571 square kilometers in 2012. Prior to that, deforestation had been declining in the region thanks to better forest monitoring and environmental law enforcement, public and private sector efforts to curb forest clearing, the creation of new protected areas and indigenous territories.</p><p>According to <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/in-cutting-deforestation-brazil-leads-world-in-reducing-emissions/" target="_blank">a 2014 study published in the journal Science</a>, the drop in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon between 2004 and 2013 avoided the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent of taking all cars off American roads for three years — 3.2 billion tons.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI3MDQwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzY4MjkxNX0.TCQ8p3P7K85e5KbuvxRZjeNOGF2hPAzD8I0l9dM27nw/img.jpg?width=980" id="b1acd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c1bd9831a9bb7abcc0aa7ed2b66c9e72" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Official Brazilian government data showing annual deforestation (Aug 1-Jul 31 year) in the Brazilian Amazon since 1988.
<p>The rise in deforestation has been particularly sharp since Jair Bolsonaro assumed the presidency in January 2019. Bolsonaro has <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/bolsonaros-brazil-2019-brings-death-by-1000-cuts-to-amazon-part-one/" target="_blank">rolled back environmental regulations</a>, granted amnesty from fines for illegal deforestation, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/brazil-guts-environmental-agencies-clears-way-for-unchecked-deforestation/" target="_blank">cut budgets for environmental law enforcement</a>, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/future-of-amazon-deforestation-data-in-doubt-as-research-head-sacked/" target="_blank">diminished the role of scientists in the government</a>, blamed environmental NGOs for deforestation and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/brazilian-president-claims-leonardo-dicaprio-funded-amazon-fires/" target="_blank">claimed without evidence that Leonardo DiCaprio funded last year's fires in the Amazon</a>, and opened <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/brazils-new-forest-code-puts-vast-areas-of-protected-amazon-forest-at-risk/" target="_blank">protected areas</a> and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/brazil-opens-38000-square-miles-of-indigenous-lands-to-outsiders/" target="_blank">prospective indigenous territories</a> for extractive industries and agribusiness. He's openly called for more deforestation in the Amazon, while his administration has <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/brazil-sacks-officials-who-curbed-deforestation-on-amazon-indigenous-lands/" target="_blank">sacked officials charged with protecting forests and indigenous peoples</a> against illegal land invasions.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI3MDQxMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTM3MzE2MX0.Il_7ONWRaMLRwmrzl1f0H0yJLb8uvrPnur_hKOdWuso/img.jpg?width=980" id="6a7ab" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="95bcd8ecea2bfa8924a086e584d348e9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Amazon rainforest canopy in Brazil. Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay
<p>The combination of rising forest clearance and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/satellite-data-show-amazon-rainforest-likely-drier-more-fire-prone-this-year/" target="_blank">abnormally dry conditions across vast swathes of Brazil</a> is setting up the region for an active fire season. Last year, fires in the Amazon made international headlines when the resulting smoke billowed over Sao Paulo, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/amazon-rainforest-fires-leave-sao-paulo-in-the-dark/" target="_blank">blocking out the sun mid-day</a>. Widespread condemnation from NGOs, human rights groups, business leaders, celebrities, and European political leaders as well as global calls for boycotts of Brazilian companies and products prompted Bolsonaro to mobilize the army to help with fire-fighting efforts. Yet Bolsonaro pressed forward with policies and actions that will increase deforestation and fires nonetheless, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/experts-blame-bolsonaro-for-surge-in-deforestation-warn-of-worse-to-come/" target="_blank">say experts</a>.</p><p>Accelerating deforestation, forest degradation, and drought in the Amazon is of great concern to <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/the-tipping-point-is-here-it-is-now-top-amazon-scientists-warn/" target="_blank">scientists who warn that the entire biome may be near a tipping point</a> where large areas of wet <a href="https://rainforests.mongabay.com/" target="_blank">rainforest</a> could transition to dry tropical woodlands and savanna. <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/impending-amazon-tipping-point-puts-biome-and-world-at-risk-scientists-warn/" target="_blank">Such a transition</a> could have dramatic implications for regional rainfall, with the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone potentially shifting northward, leading to drier conditions across <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/a-healthy-and-productive-amazon-is-the-foundation-of-brazils-sovereignty/" target="_blank">South America's breadbasket and major urban areas</a>. <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/pro-deforestation-policies-could-be-ruinous-for-farmers-commentary/" target="_blank">The impact on regional economies</a> <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/amazon-tipping-point-puts-brazils-agribusiness-energy-sector-at-risk-top-scientists/" target="_blank">could be substantial</a>, while the impact on ecosystem function and biodiversity of the Amazon could be devastating, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/amazon-forest-to-savannah-tipping-point-could-be-far-closer-than-thought-commentary/" target="_blank">according to researchers</a>.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/amazon-deforestation-increases-for-13th-straight-month-in-brazil/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Deforestation and river pollution in the Amazon rainforest near Menkragnoti Indigenous Land, Pará, Brazil. Marcio Isensee e Sa / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Activists warn that the far-right government in Brazil is using the coronavirus pandemic as a smokescreen to undermine protections for the Amazon rainforest.
<p>With the world sheltered in place, the government assembled a "historic assault" on the Amazon and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples">indigenous</a> tribes who live there, entities it is meant to protect, reported <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/deforestation-amazon-rainforest-accelerates-amid-covid-19-pandemic/story?id=70526188" target="_blank">ABC news</a>. The controversial legislation regarding indigenous lands potentially compounds tribes' vulnerability to invasion and infection, the news report said.</p><p>Brazilian President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jair-bolsonaro" target="_self">Jair Bolsonaro</a> and his supporters are sacking key environmental officials and quickly and discreetly dismantling rules shielding protected reserves of rainforest, reported <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/brazil-using-coronavirus-to-cover-up-assaults-on-amazon-warn-activists" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. The moves are the latest in the regime's development-friendly <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/jair-bolsonaro-boosting-deforestation-2639445982.html" target="_self">policy changes that have accelerated deforestation</a> in the world's largest rainforest.</p>
<p>Preliminary satellite data shows that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rose more than 50 percent in the first three months of 2020, compared to the same three-month period last year, reported <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/deforestation-amazon-rainforest-accelerates-amid-covid-19-pandemic/story?id=70526188" target="_blank">ABC news</a>.</p><p>"Our territory keeps being invaded by loggers and hunters," Laercio Guajajara, a member of the Guajajara tribe, told ABC News. Despite the global health crisis, there were "still a lot of invasions," he said.</p><p>Bolsonaro is "notorious" for racist remarks against indigenous people, distrust of environmentalists and nationalist justifications for developing the Amazon, reported <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/brazil-using-coronavirus-to-cover-up-assaults-on-amazon-warn-activists" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>Bolsonaro told foreign journalists, "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/jair-bolsonaro-boosting-deforestation-2639445982.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1">The Amazon is ours, not yours</a>," reported <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/28/world/americas/brazil-deforestation-amazon-bolsonaro.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>This approach makes him popular with farmers, wildcat miners, loggers and land-grabbers and dangerous for environmentalists and indigenous tribes, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/brazil-using-coronavirus-to-cover-up-assaults-on-amazon-warn-activists" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> noted.</p><p>"The government has a project and it is advancing over the forest, over indigenous peoples, to benefit those who want the forest cut down," said Mariana Mota, a public policy specialist at Greenpeace Brazil, the news report said.</p><p>The mass deforestation that has increased under Bolsonaro has likely pushed the Amazon beyond the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-rainforest-point-of-no-return-2645509920.html" target="_self">point of no return</a>, scientists said. The entire ecosystem could <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-ecosystem-collapse-2645458118.html" target="_self">collapse within 50 years</a>, and that critical tipping point could be reached as early as next year, researchers said. If and when that happens, the rainforest would <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-deforestation-carbon-emissions-2645127492.html" target="_self">become a carbon source rather than a global sink</a>, exacerbating the effects of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate change</a>.</p><p>The situation has only worsened since the coronavirus outbreak, with the covert passage of new rules that further undermine the Amazon and the tribes that live there.</p>
<p>At the disease's outbreak, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/brazil-scales-back-environmental-enforcement-coronavirus-outbreak-deforestation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported that Brazil's environmental agency scaled back enforcement measures, leaving indigenous tribes and the lands they protect more vulnerable to loggers' attacks. In April, Bolsonaro's indigenous affairs agency, FUNAI, passed a new rule that prevents certain long-held indigenous lands awaiting official designation from being labeled and protected as "indigenous" under the law while they wait, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/deforestation-amazon-rainforest-accelerates-amid-covid-19-pandemic/story?id=70526188" target="_blank">ABC News</a> said.</p><p>The seemingly-obscure rule <a href="http://www.in.gov.br/web/dou/-/instrucao-normativa-n-9-de-16-de-abril-de-2020-253343033" target="_blank">IN 09</a> could open up nearly one third of indigenous lands currently awaiting designation to illegal occupation and deforestation, the news report said.</p>
<p>Bolsonaro first announced another controversial presidential decree, <a href="http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2019-2022/2019/Mpv/mpv910.htm" target="_blank">Provisional Measure (MP) 910</a>, in December 2019. The rule is now being fast-tracked towards becoming permanent law, ABC News said. MP 910 allows people who illegally logged or squatted on protected federal lands before December 2018 to purchase such lands at reduced prices.</p><p>This effectively legalizes "land-grabbing" in protected forests and indigenous reserves, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/brazil-using-coronavirus-to-cover-up-assaults-on-amazon-warn-activists" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> noted. Farmers illegally squatting could each purchase up to 2,500 hectares of rainforest for cheap. According to the news report, land grabbing, a common practice in the Amazon, involves deforesting, burning the dead trees and putting cattle on the cleared lands to consolidate possession.</p><p>Imazon, a non-profit environmentalist group, found that the measure could lead to deforestation of an additional 16,000 square kilometers of rainforest by 2027, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/deforestation-amazon-rainforest-accelerates-amid-covid-19-pandemic/story?id=70526188" target="_blank">ABC News</a> added.</p>
<p>In a rare move, 49 federal prosecutors across Brazil <a href="http://www.mpf.mp.br/mt/sala-de-imprensa/Documentos%20para%20link/RECMT.pdf" target="_blank">called</a> for the rule to be annulled for its "unconstitutionality, unconventionality and illegality," <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/brazil-using-coronavirus-to-cover-up-assaults-on-amazon-warn-activists" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> said, agreeing it would lead to a land-grab.</p><p>The decree has until May 19 to be approved by Congress, but lawmakers from the agricultural lobby are pushing for an immediate virtual vote in the midst of the pandemic and without standard scrutiny, reported both ABC News and The Guardian.</p><p>Farmers supporting the rule argue it will regularize the Amazon's chaotic land ownership and allow them to hold title to land where they've squatted. This, they argue, will provide access to credit, improve productivity and therefore reduce the need to further expand into the forest, reported The Guardian.</p><p>Reducing protections encourages land invasions, which bring violence and disease. Indigenous leaders and activists fear that history will repeat itself.</p><p>"Five centuries ago, these ethnic groups were decimated by diseases brought by European colonisers … Now, with this new scourge spreading rapidly across Brazil … [they] may disappear completely since they have no means of combating Covid-19," an <a href="https://secure.avaaz.org/po/community_petitions/presidente_do_brasil_e_aos_lideres_do_legislativo__ajude_a_proteger_os_povos_indigenas_da_amazonia_do_covid19/?cZZUvqb&utm_source=sharetools&utm_medium=copy&utm_campaign=petition-994813-ajude_a_proteger_os_povos_indigenas_da_amazonia_do_covid19&utm_term=ZZUvqb%2Bpo" target="_blank">open letter to Bolsonaro</a> warned, reported <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/03/eve-of-genocide-brazil-urged-save-amazon-tribes-covid-19-sebastiao-salgado" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>"We are on the eve of a genocide," said Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, who organized the petition and who has spent nearly four decades documenting the Amazon and its inhabitants, The Guardian reported.<br></p><p>Alessandra Munduruku, an indigenous leader from Pará state, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/brazil-using-coronavirus-to-cover-up-assaults-on-amazon-warn-activists" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, "The indigenous peoples are alone and we have to fight against the virus, the loggers and the wildcat miners. We don't know which is worse."</p><p>Since the rollbacks, indigenous tribes have also reported increased logging and violent attacks. Seven indigenous leaders, many who were outspoken against illegal logging, have been murdered in the past six months, reported <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/06/brazil-using-coronavirus-to-cover-up-assaults-on-amazon-warn-activists" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"The invaders think they can enter the indigenous reserve because of the government agenda," said Ivaneide Bandeira, of the non-profit group Kanindé, reported The Guardian. "Covid is the cover and the excuse."</p>
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