22 July 2019, New Scientist Environment https://www.newscientist.com/article/2210621-deforestation-in-brazil-has-rocketed-since-bolsonaro-became-president/
Recently exposed soil (orange) and cattle ranches
(light green) around the Juruena River in Brazil
Oton Barros/DSR/OBT/INPE
Satellite
images suggest that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has shot
up since Jair Bolsonaro became president in January, despite his claim
on Friday that the data “lies”.
More
than 3700 square kilometres of forest has been deforested this year, an area
about a fifth the size of Wales, preliminary satellite data indicates. Even
before figures for the whole of July are in, the losses for the first seven
months of the year are up 16 per cent on the recent high of 3183 square
kilometres in 2016.
The
world’s greatest rainforest is not only home to a rich diversity of species and
around 400 indigenous groups, but is also a vast store of carbon that is vital
for tackling climate
change. Increasing deforestation of the Amazon makes
reducing our global carbon emissions much harder, says Mark Maslin of
University College London.
Deforestation
in the region appears to be accelerating by the month, with July being
exceptionally bad. More than 1250 square kilometres has been lost in the first
22 days, up more than 100 per cent on the whole of July last year, figures
from Brazilian space agency INPE show.
The
method of data collection is designed for agencies to quickly detect and act on
deforestation on the ground, rather than for tracking annual trends in deforestation.
However, experts say it looks likely that the full year’s data will show a big
increase when released.
Bolsonaro
has said the rainforest should be exploited “in
a reasonable way”, has threatened to integrate
indigenous people and has sought
to reduce the size of scores of protected areas. The law
hasn’t changed – Brazil’s decades-old forest code means landowners face fines
if more than a fifth of their land is deforested – but observers say the
political rhetoric has emboldened people to act without fear of enforcement.
The
change in government rhetoric – that this is a new frontier, that we aren’t
going to worry about the protections, that this is a needed resource – is
driving landowners and entrepreneurs to deforest because there is a lack of
threat of government intervention, says Maslin.
“What
we are observing is shocking but not a surprise,” says Carlos Rittl of the
Climate Observatory, a São Paulo-based umbrella group of non-governmental
organisations. The number of government enforcement operations in the Amazon
region was down 70 per cent between January and April compared with the same
period last year, he discovered via a freedom of information request to
Brazil’s environment agency, IBAMA.
“What
we can tell is people are feeling more enabled by the government,” says Erika
Berenguer at the University of Oxford, who met landowners during a recent visit
to Brazil.
Individual cases of deforestation this year have been detected by satellite monitoring beyond Brazil’s own schemes. The Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD) lab at the University of Maryland had 75 per cent more real-time deforestation alerts in June than last year. “We’re definitely seeing a lot more alerts,” says Mikaela Weisse of the US-based non-profit World Resources Institute, which works with the lab.
Clearing
land for beef production is the big driver, says Berenguer, rather than the
value of the timber or making space to produce palm oil or soybean.
Typically, gangs use a chain slung between two tractors to knock down trees
quickly and at an industrial scale. Once the felled trees are dry enough, they
are burned to leave the ground clear for cattle ranching.
It
isn’t possible using satellite data alone to say that the clearance is
definitely for ranching, but Weisse says the straight shapes and the size of
the areas follow the same trend as land cleared for cattle pastures in the
past.
Deforestation Eastern Amazonia, picked up by GLAD in June. The pink areas are those where satellites have detected probable recent deforestation.
Another
threat is a row over the Amazon fund, a scheme that has been running for 11
years and received more than $1 billion of investment from the Norwegian and
German governments. This money is distributed to projects by non-governmental
organisations and Brazilian state agencies to prevent deforestation, but
Brazil’s environment ministry accused
the fund of management irregularities in May, raising
fears it may be shut down. “That may lead to deforestation from a different
angle,” says Berenguer.
The
government has also criticised the quality of deforestation tracking schemes,
with one
minister claiming data is being “manipulated”.
While
no agency was named, INPE is the main body tracking deforestation by
satellites. Researchers told New Scientist the claims
are unfounded and INPE is considered the “gold standard” in monitoring forest
loss in the tropics. The agency runs two data sets, DETER for real-time alerts
and enforcement, and PRODES, which provides official annual deforestation
rates.
Berenguer
says PRODES is considered the best set because of the resolution it provides.
Looking at a single month of DETER data doesn’t always give an accurate picture
because of issues with cloud cover, but several months together gives a clearer
trend. Researchers say the signs from DETER suggest that when the PRODES data
set is released later this year – covering the start of August 2018 to the end
of July 2019 – it will show an increase, perhaps of as much as 10 per cent on
the year before.
The
scale of the loss will still be relatively small compared with the early
noughties, when tens of thousands of square kilometres were being deforested
annually. But it will mark a significant departure from the past decade of
relatively low and stable deforestation.
Fred
Arruda, the ambassador of Brazil to the UK, pointed to the fact that
deforestation had reduced by 72 per cent between 2004 and 2018. “The historic
trend is undeniably still quite positive. Nonetheless, we acknowledge the
challenges ahead of us – which are made no easier by the sheer size of the
territory – and we have been working to make sure our historic trend remains on
track.”
The
accelerating deforestation is already affecting indigenous people, says Fiona
Watson of the charity Survival International. “I think it’s a real war out
there,” says Watson, who has just been to Brazil.
A
spokesperson for the Uru Eu Wau Wau, a
group in the northern state of Rondônia, told Watson they had been told by one
land-grabber that “Bolsonaro won the election and there is no [goverment]
organisation which is going to defend the Indians”.
(This footage released by Survival International today shows members of the uncontacted Awá tribe, who live in an area surrounded by deforestation. It was filmed in August 2018.)
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2210621-deforestation-in-brazil-has-rocketed-since-bolsonaro-became-president/#ixzz5uikvJFAh
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