“The Economist” and Other Foreign Journals Feature Reports on Amazon Deforestation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The British magazine “The Economist” features on the cover of its Friday, August 2nd, edition, a report on the relentless advance of deforestation in the Amazon. The article says that president Jair Bolsonaro “made it clear to infractors that they have nothing to fear.”

“After a seven-year-long government effort to slow down the destruction of the rainforest, deforestation resumed its growth in 2013 due to the weakening of inspections and the amnesty of loggers last year,” says the report.

“Although Congress and the courts have barred some of the efforts to end the protected status of some parts of the Amazon, Bolsonaro has made it clear that offenders have nothing to fear.”

The New York Times also reported an increase in deforestation in the Amazon region. The report classifies the current government as “extreme right” and says that the destruction of the Amazon has increased rapidly.

“The destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has increased rapidly since the new right-wing president took office and reduced efforts to fight illegal logging, ranching, and mining.”

The latest edition of the scientific journal “Science” says that deforestation in the Amazon is skyrocketing, but the president of Brazil claims that the data are lies.

“Deforestation in the Amazon is increasing once again, according to satellite monitoring data. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s extreme right-wing president, however, challenges this trend and attacks the credibility of the National Space Research Institute (INPE).”

Another renowned scientific journal, “Nature”, dubbed Bolsonaro “Tropical Trump” and also mentioned the accusations against the institute.

“On July 19th, Bolsonaro accused INPE of lying about the figures and then suggested that the government should be entitled to approve the agency’s data before it is released to the public.”

“The data in question is from a monitoring system designed to provide early warning for inspectors to spot new holes of at least one hectare in the Amazon.”

Journalist Jonathan Watts of the British newspaper “The Guardian” emphasized the imbroglio between the federal government and INPE. The article begins by stating that “the Amazon rainforest is being burned and cut down at the most alarming rate in recent history. But the Jair Bolsonaro government is focused on reinterpreting the data instead of dealing with the culprits.”