A new report reveals that the Amazon rainforest has suffered a devastating setback after conservation efforts reduced Brazil’s deforestation rate by nearly 50% in 2023.

what’s going on

In mid-October, the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime reported that mass fires are ravaging the Amazon basin, with illegal gold miners and land grabbers setting fire to clear the forest for other purposes, including mining, animal husbandryand growing profitable crops such as soybeans and palm oil.

While indigenous communities often start small, controlled fires as part of their sustainable agricultural traditions, criminals use them to clear large areas, the report said. NOTES. More than 27 million acres of the Brazilian Amazon have been destroyed this year.

Anti-environmental political protests also play a role in starting the fires. Meanwhile, a record drought exacerbated the fires, which they did wreaked havoc in Peru.

Why is this important?

Conformable the reportthe fires not only disrupted the food supply chain and livelihoods of those who depend on the Amazon, but also dumped the equivalent of 34.7 million tons of toxic carbon pollution into the atmosphere from June to August.

This was a “reversal” of the previous year’s progress in slowing carbon emissions under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Protecting the Amazon is crucial because it acts as a “carbon sink”, helping to regulate the Earth’s climate by absorbing about 25% of the CO2 absorbed by the earth, on National Geographic. However, deforestation reduces its ability to keep the planet’s temperatures in balance, as well as threatens it biodiverse plant and animal species who call the rainforest home.

What is being done about it?

Global initiative write “this now critical situation has spurred the Brazilian government into action.” The Lula administration has announced plans to increase fines for criminals who start forest fires, with previous regulations doing little to deter the crime.

The government also revealed that environmental protection agencies will get a small boost to their 2025 budgets and says a green-lit interstate highway between Manaus and Porto Velho will help them respond to wildfires.

However, conservationists have criticized the latest project – which is the Global Initiative NOTES “it has been a long-standing demand by politically influential land grabbers who see it as a gateway to the expansion of cattle ranching and gold mining in protected rainforest areas.”

The agencies also argued that they need more political support and resources to effectively address the challenges facing the rainforest. In turn, Global initiative says it helps provide crucial data about forest fires through her open-source mapping tool. You can support conservation efforts by donating to organizations working to protect the Amazon.

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