Fires Out, Amazon Fades From Headlines; Deforestation Up More Than 2X YOY In August, Nearly 2X Sept.

[hatrack]

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The deforestation situation in the Brazilian Amazon, far from improving, has dramatically deteriorated. Alerts from the DETER satellite monitoring system, run by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE), indicate that deforestation increased by 222 percent in August, compared with August of last year, and by 96 percent in September, compared with September of 2018.

Altogether, 7,604 square kilometers (2,970 square miles) of rainforest were felled during the first nine months of this year, an 85 percent increase over the same period last year. The Amazon fires were a mere indicator of this massive amount of deforestation, as agribusiness and land grabbers burned away the dried downed trees, creating ash which helps fertilize grass to feed the cattle herds that will move in to replace the forests.

Deforestation rates are rising rapidly again, for two reasons: it is a very profitable activity, and the government is doing little to stop it, say analysts. Logging, land grabbing and mining, often carried out illegally on protected land, are making some unscrupulous operators very rich. So far, Bolsonaro has done next to nothing to inhibit their activities. Indeed, employees working for IBAMA have told Mongabay on condition of anonymity that the government is encouraging land grabbers to deforest. A closer look at GLO helps back up their accusations.

A Mongabay contributor and co-author of this article was in Pará state and Altamira in August — the municipality with the most reported fires — and witnessed a large number of troops arriving there, supported by sophisticated military hardware including aircraft and vehicles. The GLO operation in Pará, however, overlooked a crucial factor: geography. Altamira is Brazil’s largest municipality, covering almost 160,000 square kilometers (61,800 square miles), an area bigger than Greece, with much of it rural. While it is true that Altamira saw more fires than anywhere else, most were occurring on the municipality’s edges, hundreds of kilometers away from the city of Altamira itself. In fact, army helicopters deploying from that urban area couldn’t reach the fires without refueling.

Ed. - GLO - "Guarantee of Law & Order Operation" (from Portuguese).

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https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/as-2019-amazon-fires-die-down-brazilian-deforestation-roars-ahead/

[Bayard]

1. All about the money....

Try breathing it.