The Observer view on Jair Bolsonaro and the Amazon wildfires
Observer editorial
The ecological carnage we are witnessing will reverberate far beyond the borders of Brazil
Sun 25 Aug 2019 01.00 EDT
Smoke from the wildfires burning in the Amazon plunged São Paolo, 1,700 miles from the scenes of destruction, into an eerie darkness last Monday afternoon. The temporary blackout made it impossible for residents of Brazil’s largest city to ignore the ecological carnage taking place on the other side of their country. But the ruin of rainforest we are currently witnessing will reverberate far beyond the borders of Brazil in decades to come.
Home to 3m species – one in 10 of all known plants and animals on Earth – the Amazonian rainforest is the most biodiverse place on the planet. Three-quarters of plant species there are unique to the rainforest. The Amazon is also home to a million indigenous people, thousands of whom have lost their lives in recent decades defending the forest against commercial interests.
The rainforest plays a critical role in regulating the Earth’s climate, absorbing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Halting deforestation is no less important than eliminating fossil fuel use in terms of avoiding catastrophic global overheating; scientists have estimated that protecting and restoring rainforests could reduce carbon emissions by 18% by 2030.
Much, then, is at stake. For decades, the Amazon has been the site of a struggle between, on one hand, conservationists and indigenous people, who are desperate to protect the forest, and, on the other, Brazil’s business lobby, which sees lucrative potential in its destruction to make way for farming, mining and logging. For a decade, it looked as though the conservationists were winning as the rate of deforestation declined. But in the past five years, that trend has reversed with the growing influence of Brazilian agribusiness. And since the election of Jair Bolsonaro, dubbed “Captain Chainsaw” for his support of Amazonian deforestation, it has sharply accelerated.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/25/observer-view-on-the-amazon-fires
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