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“There comes a time when the broth spills. And the juice has been spilled in our time ”, declared Vice President Hamilton Mourão, denying the responsibility of the Bolsonaro government to increase deforestation and burning in the Amazon.
“The problems have not happened since January 1,” justified the president of the Amazon Council, in a press conference held this Thursday (5) in Manaus, on the second day of the trip of a federal delegation to the Amazon.
With an expected duration of three days, it was planned to change the negative image of Brazil in front of foreign governments, which demand greater protection of the forest and control of deforestation and fires, which broke records in 2020.
The delegation arrived in Amazonas last Wednesday (4), bringing, in addition to the vice president, who is also president of the Amazon Council, the ministers of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, of the Office of Institutional Security, Augusto Heleno, and of Defense, Fernando Azevedo. The visit of the Minister of Health and Foreign Affairs has been canceled.
The heads of diplomatic missions of ten countries also embarked on the trip: South Africa, Peru, Spain, Colombia, Canada, Sweden, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Portugal, as well as representatives of ACTO (Organization of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty) and Journalists from the European Union and foreigners.
The lack of control of fires and the advance of deforestation in the Amazon led eight countries to send a letter to the Bolsonaro government in September, threatening to cut imports of Brazilian products, if Brazil did not adopt effective measures to combat the devastation. forest.
According to data from the Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), from January to November 4, 94,437 fires were registered in the Amazon, 5% more than the 89,176 outbreaks identified in the last year.
Deforestation alerts grew by 34.5% in the Amazon between August 2019 and July 2020, compared to the same period in previous years, Inpe points out.
The route excludes critical areas
Also on Wednesday, the delegation flew over the BR-163 region, in Pará, and the Manaus Metropolitan Region (RMM). The path chosen by the government was criticized by environmentalists for not covering areas where deforestation and fires are most critical, such as the Apuí region in southern Amazonas, which was ignored by the schedule.
Greenpeace even launched an alternative route for representatives of the ten countries, which would pass, in addition to southern Amazonas, through Parna (National Park) and Flona (National Forest) Jamanxin, Esec (Terra do Meio Ecological Station and TI). (Indigenous land) Cachoeira Seca, in Pará, where illegal mining and deforestation are growing.
“Despite the cloudy weather, it was possible to see protected areas and others affected by illegal mining and fires,” said Mourão, who justified the route by saying that the Amazon is “very large” and that it would be “impossible” to show all these areas in just three days. .
Therefore, the government chose to fly over areas where there are “scars” in the forest, as they are called areas of recent deforestation, as well as preserved areas and federal programs, such as settlement, explained the vice president.
However, the most criticized production models in the Amazon, which are large monocultures and large deforestation for livestock, were not “visited” during the flyover.
For Minister Augusto Heleno, the reports by environmentalists and journalists about “giant fires” in the Amazon “do not correspond to the truth.”
“We have 85% of the forest preserved. A gigantic fire in the Amazon, the smoke would reach London, “said the minister, who acknowledged that there was a delay in fighting the fires. “There was a delay, our resources were limited, we were in the middle of a pandemic.”
Programming
In Manaus, the delegation also visited the fourth (4) military installations, such as Cigs (Integrated Center for War in the Jungle) and Censipam (Center for Management and Operations of the Amazon Protection System).
This Thursday (5), the program included a visit to the PIC (Integrated Colonization Project) Bela Vista, in Iranduba, Manaus metropolitan region, a tour of the Meeting of the Waters, a visit to the environmental crime investigation laboratory of the PF (Federal Police)) in Amazonas and a reception at the CMA (Centro Militar da Amazônia), where the press conference was held, which began two hours late.
On the last day of the visit to the Amazon, the delegation led by Mourão will go to the Alto Río Negro region, in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, where they will visit the House of Support for Indigenous Health, and in the community from Maturacá, where they will meet with the army’s Frontier platoon.
