Video that denies burning in the Amazon, shared by Mourão and Salles, uses Greenpeace images without authorization | Nature

“Many of the images in the video are from Greenpeace Brazil and were used without authorization, out of context, with the aim of promoting false news to divert public attention from the serious situation that the Amazon is going through,” the organization said in a note. .

Greenpeace Brazil reported that, upon learning of the video, it notified YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to remove the video from the air for copyright infringement. On Twitter, the video was removed “in response to a complaint from the copyright holder.” On Facebook, the video continues to appear, shared, for example, on the page of Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL).

The NGO also notified the Pará Breeders Association (AcriPará), which subscribes to the production of the video. The president of the entity that brings together state cattle ranchers, Maurício Fraga, told the G1 that the video was a response to another, produced by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib).

“This video [da Apib] It encourages a boycott of the consumption of Brazilian products abroad, “said Fraga.” That was what angered us. We are not deniers. We have the exact notion of the fire problem where we live. Inpe’s data is public and reliable, we know what happens ”.

Regarding the images in the video, Maurício says he doesn’t know where they come from. “It was not me who made the video. Two people linked to AcriPará asked me for it and they did it. I only authorized them to do it and disseminate it.” He said the video was “totally modest.” “It was only to put WhatsApp groups and social networks on whoever wanted, it never crossed our minds that it could take such proportions. It was just an outburst. ”

In addition to using information out of context and denying scientific evidence for an increase in burns in the Amazon, the video was also criticized for bringing in a golden lion tamarin, an animal found only in the Atlantic Forest. According to Greenpeace, the images of the monkey were not from the NGO.

On September 5 of this year, Greenpeace had published a video warning about the issue of burning, deforestation and contamination by mining in the Amazon. Days later, these images were captured without authorization by Acripará associates to produce a video that said otherwise, that “the Amazon does not burn again.”

Upon seeing the images shared by the Vice President of the Republic, photographer Fábio Nascimento recognized the video he recorded in 2015 for the Greenpeace project “Salvemos el Tapajós”.

“I think this is the greatest wickedness. I wouldn’t bother if there was simply unauthorized misuse or if they had not paid. The frustration or anger that occurs is due to the lie that occurs. Taking our images made with enormous dedication for one purpose and using them for the opposite purpose, that is the big problem ”, said Fábio Nascimento.

Among the images captured by Fabio was that of indigenous people from the Munduruku people. The region inhabited by this ethnic group was precisely the one that Minister Salles visited at the beginning of August. On that occasion, Salles was pressured by search engines to legalize mining in the Amazon. Following the meeting, the Defense Ministry suspended an operation to combat illegal mining on Munduruku indigenous land.

In addition to the conflict over mining, the Munduruku indigenous land had 20 fires within its territory this month, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). According to the institute, it is among the 30 indigenous lands in the Amazon with the most fires.

Documentalist and socio-environmental activist Fernanda Ligabue also found that her work was used in the video of the cattle association. “I was horrified. We make ourselves available, we go to the field to tell these stories, we take this to the world. And that completely depends on an agreement and commitment to the truth with those peoples. They give us their images with a very clear agreement that it will be used for a positive purpose in their fight, ”said Fernanda.

On Tuesday, Vice President Hamilton Mourão, without citing name or evidence, said that “someone” from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) who “opposes” the government of President Jair Bolsonaro prioritizes the disclosure of negative data on fires.

According to the institute, the first two weeks of September 2020 (until 14) registered more outbreaks of fires than all the months of September 2019: 20,486 against 19,925.

Inpe said it would not comment on the vice president’s statements.

(* Carolina Dantas collaborated)