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The impact Bolsonaro's' presidency has had on the environmental integrity of the Amazon rainforest
#39CSustain @39CSustain
#39CSustain @39CSustain
Prior to the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil, deforestation rates had gradually slowed since the early 2000s thanks to substantial activism against #Agribusiness lobbies and other forces that benefitted from urbanization of the region.
(3/xx) This downward trend has utterly reversed since Bolsonaro's election in 2018, with "at least 11,088 sq km of rainforest was razed between August 2019 and July this year – the highest figure since 2008." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/01/amazon-deforestation-surges-to-12-year-high-under-bolsonaro
(4/xx) The #BacandaRuralista backed conservative administration has allowed economic interests to ravage the Amazon in what amounts to #ecocide. The effects in the last two years have been disastrous. The most biodiverse region on Earth has faced tremendous degradation-
(5/xx) With indigenous territories suffering even higher levels of deforestation than Amazonian wilderness, "expanding by 74 percent in 2019 under Bolsonaro as compared to 2018." https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/rapid-deforestation-of-brazilian-amazon-could-bring-next-pandemic-experts/
(6/xx) This is concerning when considering the important impact indigenous communities play on preservation of the Amazon, as "growing evidence points to indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) as buffers against large-scale carbon emissions" https://www.pnas.org/content/117/6/3015?fbclid=IwAR2BuxtgvDhsYhh3arnEkeqKzCtC_oeHzxgq6AAq5QLE-Xc-ZAx7QkWVYy4
(7/xx) The devastation of the Amazon rainforest has global implications. This includes the end of the negative-feedback-loop role the rainforest plays on slowing the impact of global carbon emissions, with the risk of starting a positive feedback loop worsening climate change.
(8/xx) Another potential disaster is the release of unknown tropical diseases, potentially triggering a global spread similar to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
(9/xx) Despite this, the administration is primarily concerned with economic growth in spite of environmental factors, reporting growth in livestock, agriculture, industry, and real estate industries- all industries benefitting from urbanizing into the Amazon rainforest.
(10/xx) with some government data figures given here.
http://www.brazil.gov.br/about-brazil/news/2019/02/brazilian-economy-grows-second-year-in-a-row
http://www.brazil.gov.br/about-brazil/news/2019/02/brazilian-economy-grows-second-year-in-a-row
(11/12) And with the administration's reliance on environmentally destructive lobbies and economic rhetoric to hold power, its little reason why such self and world devastating policy is introduced.
(12/12) This is coupled with a nationalistic angle, denouncing any foreign organizations or parties with disdain for Brazilian environmental action due to their own respective degradation, discounting the global impact the Amazon has.
