Brazil's Space Agency Reports Soaring Rates Of Rainforest Destruction

[Judi Lynn]

By Peter Hecht
November 19, 2019

A report by Brazil's space agency, completed before a recent surge in fires, reveals a 30 percent 12-month spike in rainforest destruction.

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest spiked by 30 percent in a 12-month period ending in July, with destruction blamed on illegal logging, mining and deliberately set fires for land clearing. Those fires only increased in later summer months.

A study by Brazil's National Institute on Space Research revealed that the amount of rainforest toppled totaled nearly 3,800 square miles. To put that in perspective, that's 12 times the size of New York City and all of its boroughs. It's also the highest recorded rate of forest destruction in 11 years.

Climate scientists consider protecting Brazil's rainforest as critical to combating global warming. And Brazil's environmental minister is calling for new measures to sustain the forest and prevent its destruction.

More:
https://www.newsy.com/stories/report-rate-of-rainforest-clearing-is-booming-in-brazil/

[calimary]

1. Reports like this leave me sick at heart.

[Peregrine Took]

3. +1,000,000 n/t

[Peregrine Took]

2. Nothing the UN or other countries of the world can do about it???

NO sanctions, penalties, boycotts, etc?
Astonishing that they (we) are all sitting by watching it happen.

[Judi Lynn]

4. You've got that right! They are destroying the earth right in front of everyone.

No one able to do a thing about it. Reminds us perfectly of "President" Trump.

[Judi Lynn]

5. The Amazon Is Screwed Under Brazil's President, New Data Confirms

The Amazon Is Screwed Under Brazil's President, New Data Confirms
By Brian Kahn on 19 Nov 2019 at 4:30PM

For months, the world has watched in collective horror as the Amazon rainforest has been burned down under the watch of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. New data released Monday now puts the devastation in context.

This year’s assault on the Brazilian Amazon resulted in the worst bout of deforestation in a decade. And compared to last year, 2019 marks the third biggest leap in year-to-year deforestation. The bad news crystallises that elections do have consequences. And in this case, the entire world may end up suffering.

The story of the Amazon in crisis starts back in May with the first signs of the season of fire to come. That month, 285 square miles of rainforest were chopped down or burned to the ground. Over the next four months, the Amazon saw deforestation rates go ever higher as farmers and criminal gangs used fires to clear rainforest for large agribusiness interests.

The new report from Brazil’s Climate Observatory shows that, based on satellite data, 3,769 square miles of the rainforest were lost over that period to flames and chainsaws. This year’s deforestation area is 29.5 per cent larger than what satellites saw in 2018. Only 1995 and 1998 have seen bigger year-to-year jumps in deforestation.

The semi-good news is that while this year’s deforestation rise is bad, the overall deforestation rates in the 1990s were much higher. That said, there’s no way to sugarcoat just how dire the situation could get in the Amazon not just for the forest but the people who live there.

The agribusiness interests that have driven deforestation essentially want to turn the Amazon into one big pasture for cows interrupted by rows of soy beans. And Bolsonaro is the type of person to let them. He won Brazil’s election campaigning on a mix of racism, climate denial, and business-friendly policies. Since taking office earlier this year, he’s made good on many of those campaign themes.

More:
https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2019/11/the-amazon-is-screwed-under-brazils-president-new-data-confirms/