1 month ago. Brazil

Amazon hits record high deforestation ahead of COP 27, Bolsonaro under fire

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has increased by 64% from a year ago, ahead of COP 27
President Jair Bolsonaro is responsible for the deforestation of approximately 10,000 square kms
Agriculture and cattle-raising are the main drivers of deforestation in the country

As human activity in the Brazilian Amazon increases, the future of the rainforest has never been more uncertain.

Brazil is once again in the spotlight for hitting an all-time high in the deforestation of the Amazon.

According to data from the Brazilian space research agency Inpe, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by 64% from a year ago, to 941 square kilometres (363 square miles). The area, which is larger than New York City, has experienced the greatest loss of forest cover since the data series began in 2015-16.

The Amazon rainforest: nature's friend no more?

With a surface area of 6,000,000 square kilometres (2,316,612.95 square miles), the Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world. The rainforest, 60% of which falls in Brazil, represents over half of the planet's rainforests.

But the once-mighty rainforest is no longer so. Wildfires, droughts, and rising temperatures, to name a few, are pushing it past its breaking point.

Also read: Antarctica hits record 30 degrees Celsius: Experts

Thousands of fires are raging over the Southern Amazon, destroying one of the world's most important carbon sinks. According to a study published in the journal Nature, the former carbon storehouse now produces three times more carbon dioxide than the remaining vegetation can absorb. Even worse, most of the rainforest is now completely dry. Widening droughts are hitting Central and Southern Brazil which means that fires are more likely to escape and spread.

Scientists are more concerned than ever about the Amazon. Some experts have predicted that the forest will soon hit a tipping point due to the warmer climate, increasing deforestation, and intense fires, with much of it becoming barren scrubland. Others, on the other hand, claim that there is insufficient information to make exact predictions about how long the rainforest will remain healthy.

Jair Bolsonaro: Where does Captain Chainsaw’s government stand

Jair Bolsonaro has been the President of Brazil since January 1, 2019 (Photo: AP)

Whether it’s for his role as an apologist for military dictatorship, his misogynistic views on women and the LGBTQ community, his highly conservative views on social matters, or his advocacy of crony capitalism, Jair Bolsonaro has been the subject of controversy since taking office in 2018. Matters are no different when it comes to the Amazon.

Let there be no delusion. The rainforest had fallen prey to the whims of humans decades ago, in the 1900s. But its active downfall began only in 2018, with the rise of the Bolsonaro regime. Between 2004 and 2012, satellite monitoring, workers on the ground, legislation to punish offenders, and the demarcation of indigenous territory and conservation areas were some of the mechanisms that helped reduce deforestation. With Bolsonaro coming to power, these have been dismantled systemically. As evidenced by his environmental policies, the far-right leader is more interested in appeasing the big farming lobby that harnesses global markets and rewards excessive consumerism.

Environmentalists and the international community have also chastised Bolsonaro for reducing funds for rainforest protection programmes and attempting to open protected territories to agribusiness and mining.

According to reports, Bolsonaro is responsible for the devastation of approximately 10,000 square kilometres of Brazilian rainforest.

The Bolsonaro administration shifted the tone of its public remarks in 2021 after two years of downplaying the Amazon problem and ignoring calls for action. At Joe Biden's climate summit in April, Brazil promised to halt illicit deforestation by 2030. It also committed to quadruple the money for maintaining the forest's protection frameworks and pushed the deadline for becoming carbon neutral from 2060 to 2050. However, the 'commitments' have not been formalized in law or policy. There are also no policies outlining intermediate and short-term objectives that would allow Brazil to achieve that goal. In fact, according to the most recent estimates, its emissions have substantially increased, particularly during the pandemic.

Also read: US missed its climate targets as greenhouse emissions rose in 2021: Report

Not only that, as one might expect from the crafty Bolsonaro administration, Brazil's environment minister, Ricardo Salles, reportedly revealed a previously hidden agenda and tweaked the agreement in backdoor negotiations with the US and other countries, asking them to pay $1 billion per year to Brazil in exchange for a 40% reduction in deforestation.

The Climate Change scenario

The reports on Amazon’s newly established deforestation rate comes only a few months before the UNFCCC's 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) is set to take place in November of this year.

Until 2019, Brazil received tens of millions of dollars each year from the donor-backed Amazon Fund to help protect and sustainably use its forests, but that funding was halted as deforestation only increased during Bolsonaro's administration.

In 2020, Brazil's emissions were greater than in any year since 2006. According to an analysis by the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates System (SEEG), land use change activities, such as converting forests to agriculture fields or cattle pasture, accounted for 46 percent of Brazil's emissions in 2020. 90 percent of emissions from land use change came from deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado wooded savannah. Agriculture and cattle raising are the main drivers of deforestation in the country, even as the government “implemented” a plan to reduce pollution from the sector.

In fact, while most countries produced less carbon emissions amid the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus epidemic, Brazil emitted 2.16 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020, up from 1.97 billion in 2019.

Also read: File of shame: United Nations slams world leaders for broken climate promises

The Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius becomes increasingly impossible with each square mile of the Amazon rainforest cut down. And if Brazil maintains its current pace and performance in the Amazon deforestation, it will undoubtedly be 'promoted' from 5th to largest carbon dioxide emitter.

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Amazon hits record high deforestation ahead of COP 27, Bolsonaro under fire

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