01 August 2019, Update 02 August 2019, Nature (UK) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02353-6#correction-0
FOTO DESMATAMENTO A dispute
over the rate of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon (pictured) is the latest sign
of tension between the country's researchers and its president.Credit:
Nacho Doce/Reuters
Tensions are rising as Jair Bolsonaro’s administration questions the
work of government scientists and institutes debilitating cuts to research
funding.
A dispute over the rate of
deforestation in Brazil's Amazon (pictured) is the latest sign of tension
between the country's researchers and its president.Credit: Nacho Doce/Reuters
When neuroscientist Sidarta Ribeiro presented a preview of a report on
the dire state of research in Brazil at a meeting of a major scientific society
on 23 July, several government soldiers entered the room and began filming.
Some in the audience took the soldiers’ actions as a show of intimidation.
“Maybe these guys were just soldiers who want to learn about science,”
says Ribeiro, a researcher at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in
Natal. He coordinated the analysis on behalf of the Brazilian Society for the
Advancement of Science (SBPC), which hosted the meeting and commissioned the
report. But it didn’t look like they were there out of curiosity, Ribeiro says.
The incident is the latest example of the rising tensions between the
country's scientists and President Jair Bolsonaro's administration. Since Bolsonaro took office in January, Brazil’s researchers have faced funding cuts and repeated attempts by
the administration to roll back protections for
