The Amazon Rainforest Was and Still Is On Fire

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the dangers that threaten the Amazon rainforest

The Amazon rainforest during “fire season.” diversityphotos. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

There are a multitude of dangers ranging from climate change to human destruction that threaten the fragility of the Amazon rainforest. The destruction of the Amazon is largely attributed to consumerism and the extraction of natural resources. Without the existence of the Amazon, the world loses a crucial contender in the fight against climate change along with the likely deaths of many Indignenous people and already endangered species.

Reports from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research recorded 2,248 fires last month, a 13-year high and a 20% increase over the norm. Last year around this time, there were about 1,880 fires. However, the worst is likely yet to come as burnings in the Amazon tend to increase until September, the end of “fire season.” 

In 2019, the greatest destruction of the fires correlated with the peak of fire season. The increase in the number of fires was likely fueled by President Jair Bolsonaro’s decision to decrease the fines for environmental violations. It gave more leeway for commercial groups and loggers to disregard regulations that help preserve the Amazon. Bolsonaro has been nicknamed “Captain Chainsaw” for his policies that prioritize development over conservation. In an interview, Bolsonaro stated that “the Amazon belongs to Brazil,” so it can do as it wishes with it. As a result, it was estimated last year that every minute, a portion of the Amazon equal to the size of a soccer field was lost due to deforestation. 

The process of deforestation results from loggers trying to clear land as quickly as possible. That includes the use of chainsaws to cut down lumber for manufacturing and development. Then, farmers burn the downed trees that remain to make room for crops and pastures. Fire season, then,is the mark of when farmers begin to set these fires. It is important to acknowledge this is not a new practice, but an unending cycle of extracting from the land without replenishing it. 

Another sign of deforestation in the Amazon. rosamariavidal. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A similar phenomenon is occurring this year due to the lack of authority in the Amazon. Just as with last year, many of the fires started so far have been due to illegal loggers. For instance, in the first four months of 2020, deforestation rose by 55% due to a lack of governmental enforcement as Brazil’s attention focused on combating COVID-19.

The spread of COVID-19 also caused many activists and field agents to pull out of the region. As a consequence of the lack of protection by field agents and thin numbers of police, loggers and miners have been able to overtake the Amazon. To show the magnitude of this problem, April’s extent of deforestation was 64% higher than that in April 2019. 

Due to international outcry last year over the fires, President Bolsonaro was forced to deploy enforcement to help monitor the fires and enforce regulations. Most new enforcement agents were unable to be deployed for this year’s fire season, though, due to COVID-19. And to make matters worse, the authority of troops currently in the Amazon expired on June 10, so there is currently no one monitoring fire conditions. 

Eva Ashbaugh

is a Political Science and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies double major at the University of Pittsburgh. As a political science major concentrating on International Relations, she is passionate about human rights, foreign policy, and fighting for equality. She hopes to one day travel and help educate people to make the world a better place.

Coronavirus and the Amazon’s Indigenous Population

The Indigenous populations of the Americas have been decimated by diseases brought by colonizers for centuries. With the first case of Coronavirus among Brazil’s Indigenous population identified on April 1st, the trend continues. They are under considerable risk of an outbreak spiraling out of control. Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, has time and time again placed his opinion and policy against the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon. Their resources and social environment are not fit to handle a pandemic. The outbreak could have serious repercussions.

One of Bolsonaro’s first actions in office was an assault on protections of the Amazon, exploiting Indigenous land and putting their populations at risk in the process. Later, he admitted to fueling fires in the Amazon to clear land for agriculture. This has caused severe damage to the local populations and the ecosystem. Their lands are being taken and their communities destroyed for the sake of corporate profit.

Bolsonaro has a history of racism against the Indigenous people of the country. He once stated: “It’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry hasn’t been as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians,” one of many such remarks. He has permitted illegal loggers to seize and raid territory in the Amazon, which alongside the health risks of the virus, has lead Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry to warn of the “risk of genocide.”

Bolsonaro has displayed little care about Coronavirus. He has called it “a little flu” and has urged Brazilians to leave isolation and go back to work. This is in a country that has reported 22,720 cases and 1,270 deaths as of April 13. His lack of regard for both taking the necessary precautions against Coronavirus and protecting the Indigenous communities in the territory project a very dangerous situation in Brazil.

The Indigenous territories of the Amazon do not have the resources to fight this battle alone.   

Their communities have very limited access to healthcare. People often live in close quarters with each other. Not to mention that 107 groups who have no contact with the outside world and would have no means to deal with an outbreak. And that doctors pose the risk of spreading the disease further. 

Indigenous populations have a history of disease decimating their populations, and given the lack of resources and government response, there is a great possibility of Coronavirus dealing massive damage. Karl Marx said that history repeats itself, “the first as tragedy, then as farce.” Without a government to turn to, this situation is seemingly in the hands of non-profit groups and Brazilians willing to step up and help their fellow compatriots.

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Arlo O’Blaney

Arlo grew up in New York City and is currently a Human Rights major at Bard College. He intends on using this background to pursue a career in journalism. He almost played D3 Lacrosse but realized how bad of an idea that was.

The Lungs of the Earth are Burning

 The Amazon Rainforest is currently burning and has been for weeks, while little to no coverage has been given to the immediate and dire situation. 

Fire. Cullan Smith. Unsplash.

The Amazon is on fire and has been for a little over a month. According to the World Wildlife Fund, “40,000 different types of plants” are estimated to have been affected by the fires raging in the Amazon. The Amazon fires have been burning for a while now, but coverage on the fires has been little to none. Now, though, through the outcry on social media, attention has been brought and countries across the globe are pitching in, trying to do their part in reversing and stopping the fires. 

According to a NY Times article, “Hours after leaders of some of the world’s wealthiest countries pledged more than $22 million to help combat fires in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil’s government angrily rejected the offer, in effect telling the other nations to mind their own business — only to later lay out potential terms for the aid’s acceptance and then, on Tuesday evening, accepting some aid from Britain.”

Denying the aid could prove detrimental to the people and animals living in the Amazon forest. According to a CNN video, Daniel Aristizabel, a member of the Amazon Conservation team, states that the fires are affecting tons of the wildlife in the Amazon, stating “if you lose one species, you cause a chain reaction”. This “chain reaction” can cause a major shift in our ecosystem and possibly put many animals on the endangered species list. 

Being far-removed from the fires makes it difficult to understand the scope and how big of areas the fires are covering. In an ABC video, Andres Ruzo from National Geographic Explorer and Conservationist and also the Director of the Boiling River Project states that “we could be losing, in certain areas, as much as 3 soccer fields of jungle every single minute”. The rate at which the Amazon is burning is huge and will have an impact on ourselves. To put the size in perspective, CNN reporter also adds that the amount of land burning is equivalent to “two thirds the size of the contenential United States”. The Amazon Rainforest has often been called the lungs of the Earth but now they are clogged with smoke. 

Senior VP of Forests, WWF, Kerry Cesareo, states “we have seen a dramatic increase in deforestation in the Amazon, recently, and it is driven by humans and this is happening in part due to demand for food and other resources from the forests and exacerbated by the decline and enforcement of laws”. The apparent need for land for farming is the reason behind the fires. A great need for profit and resources are killing the Earth’s lungs.

If you would like to contribute to the efforts of saving the Amazon rainforest, you can donate to Protect and Acre Fund at https://act.ran.org/page/11127/donate/1 which “has distributed more than one million dollars in grants to more than 150 frontline communities, indigenous-led organizations, and allies, helping their efforts to secure protection for millions of acres of traditional territory in forests around the world.” You can also reduce your wood, paper, and beef consumption as those are the top reasons deforestation is currently happening to the Amazon. 

OLIVIA HAMMOND is an undergraduate at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. She studies Creative Writing, with minors in Sociology/Anthropology and Marketing. She has travelled to seven different countries, most recently studying abroad this past summer in the Netherlands. She has a passion for words, traveling, and learning in any form. 

Only Local Amazonians Can Bring True Sustainable Development to Their Forest

The Brazilian government has earmarked a vast tract of Amazonian land for mining. The so-called “Renca” reserve sits in the last great wilderness area in the eastern Amazon and contains lots of unique rainforest wildlife. The controversial decision to allow mining has since been rewritten to clarify that development cannot take place on indigenous lands that lie within the “Renca”, and then put on hold by a federal judge, pending support from congress.

Protected areas such as the Renca are under threat right across the Amazon, and many have already been downsized or downgraded. Conservation is undermined by chronic underfunding of the national environmental protection agencies, the devolving of environmental enforcement to regional states that cannot cope, and by rural violence so severe that Brazil leads the world in assassinations of environmentalists.

The result of all this is an Amazon where 90% of logging is illegal and deforestation is increasing, where unprecedented wildfires burn each summer, and where large vertebrates are now going extinct for the first time since the Pleistocene.

Brazil says mining and logging will boost national economic growth. Yet people in the Amazon remain some of the poorest and most marginalised in South America, and there is little evidence this kind of development has enhanced their quality of life. For example, the municipalities of Eldorado dos Carajás, Marabá, and Paraupebas, all of which surround large mining operations, have a human development index lower than that of Libya, a country stricken by civil war. And the construction of the controversial Belo Monte dam resulted in the regional capital of Altamira attaining the highest per capita homicide rate in all of Brazil, equivalent to 25 murders a day if scaled to a city the size of London.

Why has development failed Amazonians?

First, the companies driving the change are generally big multinationals based either in and around Rio and São Paulo (1,700 miles away) or abroad. Despite some municipal taxes, only a tiny portion of the profits remain locally.

Carajás Mine, the largest iron ore mine in the world, is found within the Carajás National Forest (pictured above). T photography / Shutterstock

Development, as currently practised, also favours the wealthy over the poor. When protected areas are downgraded the chief beneficiaries are landholders who are able to log or mine their territory. Other social groups aren’t so lucky. Some are even actively attacked – either directly, as occurred in the assassination of ten landless movement squatters in a large Amazonian farm, or through legal changes, such as the downgrading of the rights of quilombolas, historical communities descended from African slaves, and indigenous peoples.

Brazil’s ongoing “car wash” corruption scandal has led to allegations of worrying links between large development projects in the Amazon, such as the Belo Monte dam, and the diversion of state funds to political parties. If the purpose of development is political gain, there can be little hope for regional citizens.

Are there alternative ways forward?

Both Amazonian people and forests would benefit if we stopped evaluating development schemes solely in terms of the profits they could generate. This sort of narrow, economic assessment cannot truly capture the value of the Amazon’s forests: how do you put a price on conserving unique species, or mitigating global climate change?

The Guianan Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola rupicola) is one of northern Amazonia’s more spectacular inhabitants. Alexander Lees, Author provided

The forests of the Renca are some of the most dense and slow-growing in the Amazon basin. Even deforesting just 30% of the area would effectively emit more than four billion tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere – equivalent to Brazil’s entire fossil fuel emissions over the past ten years. Unless climate change forms part of the decision making process in the region, Brazil will fail to meet its international commitments such as the Paris agreement.

Development must also secure constitutional rights for everyone, not just those of the elites. Brazil currently has so called “differentiated citizenship”, where in practice there is a gradation of rights among citizens, depending on their race, social class or region.

Munduruku people map out their territory along the River Tapajos in Pará state. Larissa Saud, Author provided

Local action is often the only defence against the expansion of mining or dams. Recent examples of a grassroots success include the Munduruku indigenous people, who are forcing various concessions by resisting megadams on the middle Tapajós River. Another example is the practice of “counter-mapping” among indigenous peoples which entails them mapping their own territorial boundaries to defend their land from industrial agriculture, mining, dams and logging.   These alternative approaches are the best way forward in the Renca too. Instead of opening up the area for mining multinationals, Brazil should recognise the rights of local people and empower them to lead decision-making. Brazil nut harvesting is already big in the local economy and, along with ecotourism and carbon-payments (being effectively paid to not chop down a forest), could deliver sustainable development, while leaving the minerals in the ground.

JOS BARLOW is a Professor of Conservation Science at Lancaster University.

ALEXANDER C. LEES is a lecturer in tropical ecology at Manchester Metropolitan University.

ERIKA BERENGUER is a Senior Research Associate at University of Oxford.

JAMES A. FRASER is a Lecturer in Political Ecology at Lancaster University.

JOICE FERREIRA is a researcher in Ecology at Federal University of Pará.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CONVERSATION