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In recent years, the Amazon has faced a critical scenario.
Larger tropical forest
In the world, the Amazon has great relevance for the enormous biodiversity and traditional peoples it houses. Also important for climate stability, it influences and impacts regions that go beyond its borders. Despite all the importance, in recent years the
The forest has faced a worrisome scenario and, this September 5, Amazon
, you don’t have much to celebrate.
DETER data (Detection of deforestation in real time), survey carried out by Inpe
(National Institute for Space Research), indicate that the deforestation
The accumulated in the Amazon between August 2019 and July 2020 grew 34.49% compared to the previous period – from August 2018 to July 2019. In relation to the average of the last four years, the increase was 71.80 %.
Efforts to contain deforestation
With increasingly alarming rates, there is no doubt that the Amazon has seen a considerable increase in increase in fires
and deforestation. Professor Mariana Vale, head of the Department of Ecology at the UFRJ, points out that this trend is not exclusive to the Bolsonaro government and has been going on since 2013, during the Dilma Rousseff government.
Vale recalls that, in the period from 2005 to 2012, Brazil had a significant reduction, around 70%, of the deforestation in the Amazon
. “It is a case of success and international recognition in the control of deforestation in a tropical forest”, he observes. Cláudia Azevedo-Ramos, associate professor at UFPA’s Nucleo de Estudios Altos Amazónicos, attributes this achievement to “international pressure and federal combat strategies that involved command and control actions, land regularization and promotion of sustainable economic activities
”.
Regarding this period, Vale points out that the implementation of the Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm), in 2004, during the Lula government, “substantially reduced deforestation rates.” The control was carried out with the help of various elements, such as Inpe’s satellite monitoring, Ibama’s inspection, and incentives for good practices of small producers through the Green Exchange. “With this plan we created an entire institutional structure,” he says.
In 2012, however, the plan lost steam and the scene began to change. “There was a reform of the Brazilian Forest Code
and much of what was previously considered illegal deforestation has been legalized. ” And, since 2013, deforestation has been on the rise.
Although it is not the worst time in the forest in terms of devastation
– charge attributed to the year 1995, during the government of FHC -, Vale points out that the upward trend continues, in large part, “due to the position of the government and the Ministry of the Environment in relation to environmental issues.”
In Vale’s analysis, the government perspective considers environmental issues as a “problem and obstacle to development instead of understanding them as a great asset and differential for Brazil, which can give the country a leadership role in terms of conservation of the environment
and explored in a sustainable way ”.
“Pass the cattle”
One of the moments in which the Bolsonaro government’s environmental project became clearer was during the ministerial meeting on April 22. On the occasion, the Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles,
He advocated using the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to “pass the cattle” and make infra-legal changes to Brazilian environmental law.
“If the minister did not fall after this speech, he can only point out that he is doing what was required of him,” says Azevedo-Ramos. She also says that squatters
, loggers
me illegal search engines
they feel “confident to act” when there is a speech at the federal and state level that encourages impunity.
Image of Brazil abroad
Paulo Roberto de Almeida, diplomat and former director of the Brazilian Institute of International Relations (IBRI), explains that, mainly after the Rio-92 Conference, a great Ecological awareness
Worldwide. Almeida also points out that the event marked the beginning of a “very positive” period for Brazil in terms of leadership in the environmental arena. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the country changed its environmental policy considerably, leaving behind the prospect of military dictatorship.
Until 2018, Brazil had advanced positions. Almeida points out that the nation “made an effort to International cooperation
research and support projects ”. The election results, however, changed the scene. “The arrival of Bolsonaro and his primitive conceptions to power was a shock for everyone, for environmentalists in Brazil and in the world, for international public opinion and for agribusiness,” says the diplomat.
Notes that there was a deterioration of the Brazilian image
during the Bolsonaro government. “Brazil has become an international pariah, a marginalized and despised country. It’s very sad for us, ”he says. Almeida places Ernesto Araújo and Ricardo Salles, Minister of Foreign Relations and Minister of the Environment, respectively, as “the two protagonists of the great problems of international relations in Brazil.”
Almeida says that “although from time to time an announcement is made that it is being preserved, this is very rhetorical.” He explains that the international community “knows exactly what is happening in Brazil,” because the INPE data is universal and the different countries have satellites through which it is possible to collect information on deforestation.
Brazil’s position on the environment even shows signs of possible economic impacts
. On August 21, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that she had “serious doubts” about the implementation of the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur due to increased deforestation in the Amazon.
“There is a possibility that this agreement will not enter into force and that the new sanctions
approved ”, analyzes the diplomat Paulo Almeida. “And they do not have to be official sanctions, because it is not the governments that export and import,” he adds. For him, the pressure of public opinion plays a relevant role in this context.
“A public opinion
it can put pressure on entire companies and retailers, ”Almeida says. “Import chains can simply boycott the purchase of Brazilian products, such as cereals, meat or anything else that seems offensive enough. Large international campaigns can be carried out. Public opinion will determine a large part of political movements, cooperation agreements and, above all, trade and investment flows ”.
“Our current image is very negative in the world of the environment and I believe that as long as the government does not change its position, there will not be much condescension in the world towards Brazil”, concludes Almeida.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
Professor Cláudia Azevedo-Ramos observes that “in a globalized world, internal political options have external repercussions.” This factor, combined with the growing concern for sustainable production chains and climate change, makes the international reaction for the Amazon “expected”.
“When mega investors say they are going to withdraw their investments
from Brazil or countries that buy our products say that they are not going to buy more, internal pressure is created for changes ”, says Cláudia. “This is what was seen in August with the letter of 60 firms from Brazilian organizations addressed to political leaders and investors calling for a moratorium on deforestation and strengthening of environmental agencies. Or with the recent decision by private banks to join forces to find sustainable solutions to their financing ”.
In addition to pressure from external and economic affairs, experts say that Brazil has the ability to contain deforestation in the Amazon. “We have integrated systems, qualified personnel, satellite monitoring and economic tools to stop the bad and promote the good,” says Cláudia.
“We were able to control deforestation
in an exemplary way between 2005 and 2012, we have the institutional and scientific capacity for that ”, highlights Mariana. “I believe that things can be reversed, I believe that the Brazilian electorate can be aware and vote appropriately in the next elections thinking about the country as a whole, with all its economic, social and environmental problems,” she concludes.
