The Brazilian Amazon rainforest has recently suffered a surge in deforestation, reaching unprecedented levels in May as Brazil’s far-right government under President Jair Bolsonaro keeps on granting a free license to illegal logging, farming and mining activities in once-protected lands.
The Brazilian Amazon lost approximately 285 square miles in May 2019, which is equivalent to two football fields every minute, according to the Guardian.
May marks the dry season’s beginning when most forest clearance and burning takes place.
As reported by The Mind Unleashed, May’s 285 square miles adds to a loss of over 837 square miles from August to April, up from the 698 square miles lost over the same period in 2018.
Environmentalists worry that the trends will accelerate as the Bolsonaro government and its environmental ministry continue to act on behalf of mining and industrial agricultural interests, that have enjoyed free rein to expand their exploitation of the Amazon and protected areas. That has included Indigenous reserves which have ceased being demarcated since Bolsonaro came to power in January 2019.
The radically far-right president and his officials have blamed activist groups, environmental laws, and indigenous peoples for hindering Brazil’s economic potential, demonstrating scant signs that they’re willing to halt the accelerated deforestation of the Amazon.
The two million-square-mile rainforest is a vital repository of carbon dioxide and plays a critical role in the fight against climate change, a reality the president denies. The Amazon is home to 10% of all known plant and animal species as well. Over the past forty years, the jungle has lost a staggering 18% of its territory, according to Greenpeace.
The president has blasted the main government monitoring agency as a “fines industry,” forcing it to issue fewer penalties than at any other time other over the last eleven years while inspections have reduced by 70% from 2018.
Ricardo Salles, the environmental minister, has also failed to appoint regional officials. He also destroyed morale in the ministry with the sacking of veteran inspectors.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the president’s oldest son, introduced a bill last month which would remove the obligation of farmers to designate a minimum percentage of their property to natural vegetation. The measure would open up an area of more than 412 million acres—an area larger than Iran—to the extractive industry.
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