Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon surges, Bolsonaro readies troops

 

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil, September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

 

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest rose sharply in April, government data showed on Friday, as the coronavirus outbreak keeps many environmental enforcers out of the field and the country prepares to deploy troops to fight illegal logging.

 

Destruction in Brazil's portion of the Amazon increased 64% in April, compared with the same month a year ago, according to preliminary satellite data from space research agency INPE.

 

In the first four months of the year, Amazon deforestation was up 55% from a year ago to 1,202 square kilometers (464 square miles), according to the INPE data.

 

The Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest, and scientists say its preservation is vital to curb global warming because of the vast amount of greenhouse gas that it absorbs.

 

Destruction of the Amazon surged to an 11-year high last year and continues to climb in 2020, which environmentalists blame on the policies of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro who has emboldened illegal loggers, miners and ranchers.

 

Bolsonaro has called for more farming and mining in protected areas of the forest, saying it is the only way to lift the region out of poverty.

 

The new coronavirus outbreak has complicated efforts to combat deforestation, with environmental enforcement agency Ibama sending fewer agents into the field due to health risks. The agency has said it will scale back field agents in other at-risk areas but not the Amazon.

 

"The pandemic has not helped because there are apparently less agents out there, and illegal loggers obviously don't care about the virus in remote areas of the Amazon," said Paulo Barreto, senior researcher for non-profit Amazon institute Imazon.

 

Barreto and other environmentalists, including Greenpeace, said the surge was already underway last year due to government steps that encouraged illegal logging, in particular a decree now before Congress that could give title to land grabbers who invaded public and indigenous lands.

 

As deforestation soars, Bolsonaro on Thursday authorized the deployment of armed forces to deter illegal loggers and combat deforestation and forest fires in the region. Environmental advocates say the measure may help in the short term but is not a lasting solution.

 

Ibama agents have expressed dismay that deforestation has continued to surge in recent months despite the current rainy season in the Amazon, which makes the jungle harder to traverse and usually deters illegal loggers.

 

Parts of the Amazon that are hot spots for deforestation such as southern Para state have seen higher than average rain levels, which would normally lead to a fall in deforestation, Carlos Nobre, an earth systems scientist at University of Sao Paulo, told Reuters.

 

Nobre warned that the rains will ease in the next three months as the dry season takes hold, which is when deforestation peaks in most years.

 

(Reporting by Jake Spring, Jamie McGeever and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Brad Haynes, Steve Orlofsky and Aurora Ellis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-09

 

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Another world disaster. That man, too, has got to go!

Little off topic but its the same as Thailand but not to the same extent. During the curfew behind my house there is scooters and pickups in and out taking logs from public and forest land. Police have been informed and all other departments but nothings done. Weve had death threats and forced to run for out lives on a few occasions. Corruption is obviously at play here and most authorities that do seem to care are too scared to do anything. If i had the Authority i would throw the lot in my ute and take em to the police station which is probably a waste of time or just shoot em where they stand but i cant do anything cuz im a farang. I have had armed machine gun carrying special forces in my house looking for guns and drugs and such in a way of scarring us out of the area i guess which is nice. We been living with being terrorized for years with many gunshots to the house and such but whatever. Amazing Thailand...The officials are the criminals!!

1 hour ago, unamazedloso said:

Little off topic but its the same as Thailand but not to the same extent. During the curfew behind my house there is scooters and pickups in and out taking logs from public and forest land. Police have been informed and all other departments but nothings done. Weve had death threats and forced to run for out lives on a few occasions. Corruption is obviously at play here and most authorities that do seem to care are too scared to do anything. If i had the Authority i would throw the lot in my ute and take em to the police station which is probably a waste of time or just shoot em where they stand but i cant do anything cuz im a farang. I have had armed machine gun carrying special forces in my house looking for guns and drugs and such in a way of scarring us out of the area i guess which is nice. We been living with being terrorized for years with many gunshots to the house and such but whatever. Amazing Thailand...The officials are the criminals!!

Dang, you really are living the dream!

Corruption is now pretty much universal...no place to run...or hide.

5 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Little off topic but its the same as Thailand but not to the same extent. During the curfew behind my house there is scooters and pickups in and out taking logs from public and forest land. Police have been informed and all other departments but nothings done. Weve had death threats and forced to run for out lives on a few occasions. Corruption is obviously at play here and most authorities that do seem to care are too scared to do anything. If i had the Authority i would throw the lot in my ute and take em to the police station which is probably a waste of time or just shoot em where they stand but i cant do anything cuz im a farang. I have had armed machine gun carrying special forces in my house looking for guns and drugs and such in a way of scarring us out of the area i guess which is nice. We been living with being terrorized for years with many gunshots to the house and such but whatever. Amazing Thailand...The officials are the criminals!!

Better move out of that place where you are living .

Are you not scared that one day they will kill you and or your family ?

5 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Another world disaster. That man, too, has got to go!

Bolsonaro is even worse than Trump .

I hope Covid get's him . Would only be fair ...

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Bolsonaro readies troops

For doing what, exactly? Help the loggers cut the trees down? I thought Bolsonaro was in favor of cutting down the entire Amazon forest.

But survey/photos from NASA say the world is 50% greener than in 1985. Plants love the higher levels of CO2.

14 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

But survey/photos from NASA say the world is 50% greener than in 1985. Plants love the higher levels of CO2.

Exactly, the forest regrows at a astoundingly quick rate! So much disinformation on this subject, as I found out when I started to read about it!

It is over ~ 25 times the size of the UK, absolutely huge area. (bigger than Europe)

Its interesting that the subsoil in many areas of the forests appears to have been formed by "man"! This is supported by numerous peer approved "white papers" that have been printed in the most "trustworthy" of publications, for what that's worth.

3 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Bolsonaro is even worse than Trump .

I hope Covid get's him . Would only be fair ...

You are indeed an ill person. 

2 hours ago, CGW said:

Exactly, the forest regrows at a astoundingly quick rate! So much disinformation on this subject, as I found out when I started to read about it!

It is over ~ 25 times the size of the UK, absolutely huge area. (bigger than Europe)

Its interesting that the subsoil in many areas of the forests appears to have been formed by "man"! This is supported by numerous peer approved "white papers" that have been printed in the most "trustworthy" of publications, for what that's worth.

That would be wonderful if it only were true. The burning of the forest wipes out the trees which provide the moisture. However, they are not replaced by trees but by huge fields of soy and massive beef ranches. Neither of these make the forest regrow or help to maintain the rest of the forest.

 

As deforestation soars, Bolsonaro on Thursday authorized the deployment of armed forces to deter illegal loggers and combat deforestation and forest fires in the region. 

 

Absolute nonsense. All will be forgotten in two weeks. Bolsonaro is not only one of the most ethically and morally bankrupt men on earth, he is also one of the least sincere, and he is a very dangerous man. The people of Brazil need to figure out a way to get rid of him, yesterday. He is a human hazard. He is a hazard to the planet. Environmental degradation is his M.O. He just does not care one iota. 

34 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

As deforestation soars, Bolsonaro on Thursday authorized the deployment of armed forces to deter illegal loggers and combat deforestation and forest fires in the region. 

 

Absolute nonsense. All will be forgotten in two weeks. Bolsonaro is not only one of the most ethically and morally bankrupt men on earth, he is also one of the least sincere, and he is a very dangerous man. The people of Brazil need to figure out a way to get rid of him, yesterday. He is a human hazard. He is a hazard to the planet. Environmental degradation is his M.O. He just does not care one iota. 

Wouldn't surprise me if the troops are being deployed with flame throwers and bulldozers to 'deter illegal loggers'. If they get there first, there's nothing left for the illegals....

Bolsonaro is a new Mussolini. Remember how Mussolini ended.

46 minutes ago, Anant72 said:

Bolsonaro is a new Mussolini. Remember how Mussolini ended.

There's a George Formby song about that..

 

I'm hanging from a lamp post

on the corner of the street

until a certain little lady comes by....

 

well, it's something like that  ????

11 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Little off topic but its the same as Thailand but not to the same extent. During the curfew behind my house there is scooters and pickups in and out taking logs from public and forest land. Police have been informed and all other departments but nothings done. Weve had death threats and forced to run for out lives on a few occasions. Corruption is obviously at play here and most authorities that do seem to care are too scared to do anything. If i had the Authority i would throw the lot in my ute and take em to the police station which is probably a waste of time or just shoot em where they stand but i cant do anything cuz im a farang. I have had armed machine gun carrying special forces in my house looking for guns and drugs and such in a way of scarring us out of the area i guess which is nice. We been living with being terrorized for years with many gunshots to the house and such but whatever. Amazing Thailand...The officials are the criminals!!

Just live you live and don't worry about what someone else is doing . Keep your nose out of it . If it Bothers you what's going on Then the best thing to do is Move out of the area .

I was under the impression that Bolsonaro had sold off the Amazon rain forest to be burned down by loggers, farmed for a year to make beef offer McDonald's burgers and they they whole area would be a desert.

He's an unlikely saviour of the rain forests that's for sure when loggers can make garden and patio furniture out of the hard woods there.

12 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Another world disaster. That man, too, has got to go!

Man has to go, you mean. We are the hazard... evidenced by some of the comments here saying it's a good thing etc. I hope the virus takes us all out for the betterment of the universe.

...and just wait, what funny little viruses they will dig up in the depth of the rain forrest!

Sometimes I think, we need a meteorite, so Earth can start over again!

Where's Greta when she's needed?

quote from "Mighty Earth"

 

The burning of the Amazon and the darkening of skies from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, have captured the world’s conscience. Much of the blame for the fires has rightly fallen on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for directly encouraging the burning of forests and the seizure of Indigenous Peoples’ lands.

But the incentive for the destruction comes from large-scale international meat and soy animal feed companies like JBS and Cargill, and the global brands like Stop & Shop, Costco, McDonald’s, Walmart/Asda, and Sysco that buy from them and sell to the public. It is these companies that are creating the international demand that finances the fires and deforestation.

New maps and analysis from Mighty Earth, based on data from NASA, CONAB, and Imazon and released here for the first time, show which companies are most closely linked to the burning.

16 hours ago, mrfill said:

Wouldn't surprise me if the troops are being deployed with flame throwers and bulldozers to 'deter illegal loggers'. If they get there first, there's nothing left for the illegals....

Under Bolsonaro quite the opposite is likely. They might deploy troops to protect the illegal loggers, and fight the locals, who are protesting the invasion of their lands, by greedy non visionaries. 

Bolsonaro forced the destruction of the amazonian rainforest ,  'the lung of the planet' , soon after that the virus appeared and is destroying the lungs of people ... coincidence ?

15 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Man has to go, you mean. We are the hazard... evidenced by some of the comments here saying it's a good thing etc. I hope the virus takes us all out for the betterment of the universe.

Man is so intelligent , but so stupid . There is something in man's genes that leads to aggression and destruction .

 

Yes , nobody really needs our species . All is just a great universal test if some species are intelligent enough to ensure their own survival in time ...

Edited May 10, 20206 yr by nobodysfriend

19 hours ago, The Barmbeker said:

...and just wait, what funny little viruses they will dig up in the depth of the rain forrest!

Sometimes I think, we need a meteorite, so Earth can start over again!

You mean, another meteorite. The first one, in the Yucatan, knocked out the dinosaurs. 

1 hour ago, Silencer said:

You mean, another meteorite. The first one, in the Yucatan, knocked out the dinosaurs. 

That was exactly what I meant!

On 5/9/2020 at 1:20 PM, VocalNeal said:

But survey/photos from NASA say the world is 50% greener than in 1985. Plants love the higher levels of CO2.

After further investigation of the satellite imagery, the researchers found that greening was disproportionately located in China and India. If the greening was primarily a response from climate change and a warming planet, the increased vegetation shouldn't be limited to country borders. In addition, higher latitude regions should become greener faster than lower latitudes as permafrost melts and areas like northern Russia become more habitable.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/02/28/nasa-says-earth-is-greener-today-than-20-years-ago-thanks-to-china-india/#1fcd7e296e13

On 5/8/2020 at 8:49 PM, unamazedloso said:

Corruption is obviously at play here and most authorities that do seem to care are too scared to do anything

wake up allready. you are in thailand. authorities are not scared. 

it is authorities who are doing it and all you can and should  do is sit and watch.

On 5/9/2020 at 12:00 PM, nobodysfriend said:

Bolsonaro is even worse than Trump .

I hope Covid get's him . Would only be fair ...

Let’s make list!