Brazil Spotlight: "Illegal slash-burning in the Amazon escalates"

Brazilian environmental legislation protects 40 per cent of the Amazon, but conservation areas and protected indigenous lands continue to be invaded by illegal miners, loggers and land grabbers.

"...there are worrying indicators suggesting that 112km² of protected forest in the Amazon were razed by slash-burning in May, up 312 per cent from the 27 km² recorded in May 2020."

These protected lands play a vital role in preserving the Amazon rainforest and its rich biodiversity, thereby guaranteeing the forest's ability to absorb large volumes of greenhouse gases. Despite this, the data shows a worrying escalation in environmental crimes and the vulnerability of the protected status.

In June, the government authorized a regional emergency military operation—led by Vice President General Hamilton Mourão—to crack down on illegal mining and deforestation in the Amazon. The inspection will focus on 11 municipalities with high deforestation rates: São Félix do Xingu, Altamira, Novo Progresso, Pacajá, Portel, Itaituba and Rurópolis, in the state of Pará; Apuí and Lábrea, in Amazonas; Colniza, in Mato Grosso; and Porto Velho, in Rondônia.

In general, federal conservation areas have more resources for environmental protection than at the state level. However, ICMBio and INPE have both had their budgets and personnel cut during the Bolsonaro administration. In 2014, ICMBio employed 1,851 permanent staff and 2,332 outsourced environmental inspectors.

Today, those numbers are down to 1,589 and 1,659 respectively, with 1,300 federal positions removed. This public service gets ever weaker as civil servants retire and recruitment remains frozen.

The rise in deforestation makes the goal of restoring 120,000 km² of forest by 2030 – Brazil’s commitment under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change – increasingly difficult.

According to the Reforestation Observatory of the Brazil Coalition, Climate, Forests and Agriculture—a network of companies, universities and NGOs that defend sustainability—the country has reforested only 660 km² to date; that is, 0.5 per cent of the agreed restoration. In the nine years that remain before 2030, the goal will be hard to achieve.

The World Resources Institute-Brazil conducted a survey in 2020 showing that forest restoration can foster an economy that generates employment, income and environmental benefits. According to the study, every dollar invested in native tree restoration yields a return of $2.39 over 20 years.

Most of the 660 km² of restored forest mapped by the Reforestation Observatory is concentrated in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, not in the Amazon, with nearly 40 per cent of that restoration in the state of São Paulo. Of all Brazil’s cities, Rio de Janeiro is the one with the most forest recovery.

"... protected lands play a vital role in preserving the Amazon rainforest and its rich biodiversity, thereby guaranteeing the forest's ability to absorb large volumes of greenhouse gases."