The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) declares that the deforestation process in the Brazilian Amazon region is reaching highly worrying levels.
According to data collected through its monitoring activities, the institute claims that, compared to the same period last year, deforestation increased by 64% in April 2020.
Inspection systems used by INPE and first publicly declared alerts
INPE’s mission is to promote and carry out scientific research, studies, technological development, and training of human resources in the areas of space and the terrestrial environment.
To assist in raising alerts of evidence of changes in forest cover in the Amazon, the institute uses systems such as DETER.
It is an alert system capable of acting in real-time. Although agile, the tool does not have the most appropriate level of precision for this function. The system fails, especially when there are many clouds. Despite this, DETER remains a tool of great importance for field inspection.
Another system used by the institute is PRODES. Able to present the official deforestation rate, the system is used, in general, to confirm the trends pointed out by DETER. In this way, the data obtained becomes more reliable, as they are analyzed from both systems.
It was through DETER that INPE was able to obtain the first indications that, in the first year of the current President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, there was a serious resumption in deforestation. After reporting these data, the Federal Government responded by exonerating Ricardo Galvão, then director of the institute.
The attention drawn by the fires that occurred in August 2019 revealed that a large amount of forest had suffered from the effects of the advance of deforestation. In November, INPE was able to confirm, through the PRODES system, that deforestation had risen approximately 30% that year.
The situation in 2019 already alarmed experts
In 2019, it was identified that deforestation was intensifying. The phenomenon began in May and extended over the next two months.
Due to this fact, the official deforestation rate in the Amazon for the period from August 1, 2018, to July 31, 2019, was the highest in ten years. The increase was almost 30% in relation to the rate presented in the previous year.
Factors like these should have alerted government officials to the need to implement plans to contain deforestation. However, preservation measures are increasingly subject to restrictions and harmful changes.
Estimates for the 2020 rate
Since August, the pace of cuts has remained high. The intensity of deforestation increases even more as a result of the current reduction in the environmental inspection.
According to the DETER system, 1,202 km² of forests have already been lost in the period from January to April 2020. In comparison with the index presented for the same period of the previous year (in which 773 km² were lost), the result is 55 % higher.
This means that estimates are that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon region will be even higher this year.
Federal Government actions further aggravate the situation
Several measures were taken by the Federal Government and its Ministries make the situation even more critical for environmental preservation in Brazil.
Among the most serious actions of the current government are
- Exoneration of IBAMA’s inspection coordinators;
- Exchange of the 11 ICMBio coordinations for only 5 managers across the country;
- Permission for the admission of commissioners who are not affiliated with environmental preservation institutes.
The inspection coordinators working at the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) were replaced, according to a decree of the Minister of the Environment, by two former commanders of ROTA, an elite troop of the Military Police (PM) of the state of Sao Paulo. The exoneration was seen as an act of retaliation by the Federal Government against actions taken by former coordinators, who had recently directed actions to combat illegal mining.
The changes made to the structure of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) represent a drastic reduction in the number of coordinations across the country. The 11 coordinators who managed and monitored the conservation units are replaced by only 5 managers, one for each Brazilian region.
The government increasingly expands the number of positions held by military personnel or former members of the São Paulo PM. Contrary to the promise, made by the president himself, when he was still a candidate, that the positions would be filled in his government in accordance with technical criteria, most of those nominated to the positions of conservation or inspection does not have previous experience in environmental preservation.
More than that, some of the names indicated by the president of the Minister of the Environment have already been involved in scandals related to violations of environmental crime laws. An example of this is Walter Mendes Magalhães Júnior, reserve colonel of the PM who now holds the position of general coordinator of environmental inspection at IBAMA. In his brief period working at the institute, Magalhães Jr. authorized illegal exports of wood.
In short, the set of measures adopted by the current conjuncture of government officials offers no support for forest reserves or for the indigenous territories of the Amazon region. On the contrary, the exonerations and the implemented projects make it even more difficult for those who work to preserve local biodiversity and culture.
In the midst of this sad scenario, the new coronavirus pandemic makes the situation even more difficult. The state of Amazonas is one of the countries with the highest numbers of infected and killed by the disease in all of Brazil.
Many inspection posts have been disabled due to the need to protect professionals from exposure to the virus. Meanwhile, Covid-19 does not seem to intimidate the illegal activities of prospectors, for example, who continue to operate in an increasingly intense manner.