An area as large as the IJsselmeer has been cleared in the Amazon forest in May alone. It’s about a increase of 41 percent compared to last year, reports INPE, the Brazilian space agency, which monitors deforestation using satellites. An increase has also been reported in the past three months.
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The figures are very worrying, according to the Brazilian Climate Observatory. It emphasizes that the month of May is the start of the drought season, traditionally also the start of the logging season. If the trend continues, the Climate Observatory expects another record amount of wood to be harvested in 2021.
Already a lot of forest fires
In the largest tropical rainforest in the world, a relatively large number of forest fires were also established in the past month. The number of fires has increased in the past month according to INPE not been this big since 2007 sinds.
“The rainy season is already over and it was a bad (dry) season,” said INPE meteorologist Marcelo Seluchi opposite Reuters news agency. “It’s probably going to be a bad wildfire season.”
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Little rain has fallen, especially in the south of the rainforest. Experts argue that little needs to be done for a small fire to grow into a large forest fire that is difficult to control afterwards. Illegal logging plays a major role in this: a healthy rainforest remains moist even after the rainy season, but fewer trees means a drier forest.
Cutting back on climate policy
The fires in the Amazon are mainly started illegally by farmers, ecologists emphasize. In this way, the farmers hope to get more land. They are not much bothered by the government: the government of President Bolsonaro has made significant cutbacks on climate policy. The budget for the responsible ministry this year is scaled back by 24 percent. There is also less and less money for supervisors who have to protect the rainforest and can fine farmers.
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Police investigate environment minister
Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles is embroiled in two ongoing police investigations. In it, he is associated with large-scale trade in illegally harvested timber.
An investigation revolves around an incident in December last year when Salles personally approved a record amount of seized timber, even though police determined the 65,000 trees had been illegally felled. The then head of the regional police was fired the next day. His successor, with only six months of experience, then dropped the investigation. But this week it reopened after the Supreme Court ruled on it.
The federal police are also investigating whether Salles has made a significant profit from exporting large quantities of illegally harvested timber to Europe and the US. The focus is on almost a million euros that Salles received in recent years, and suspicious paperwork. The police carried out searches last month, including in the home of Minister Salles.
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The Bolsonaro government’s actions in the Amazon have been criticized since taking office in 2019, due to the massive increase in wildfires and deforestation. Bolsonaro has always defended his policy by saying that he wants to advance the area economically, and that parts of the jungle have to give way.
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Bolsonaro did state this spring that Brazil wants to be energy neutral by 2050 and he promised a complete stop of illegal logging by 2030. Whether his words turn into actions remains to be seen. A day later, the president announced that he would cutting back on environmental policy.
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