Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Rainforest Deforestation 'Worst in 10 Years', Says Brazil (bbc.com)
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has hit its highest rate in a decade, according to official data. BBC reports: About 7,900 sq km (3,050 sq miles) of the world's largest rainforest was destroyed between August 2017 and July 2018 -- an area roughly five times the size of London. Environment Minister Edson Duarte said illegal logging was to blame. The figures come amid concerns about the policies of Brazil's newly elected president, Jair Bolsonaro. During the 2018 election campaign, Mr Bolsonaro pledged to limit fines for damaging forestry and to weaken the influence of the environmental agency. An aide for the president-elect has also announced the administration will merge the agriculture and environment ministries, which critics say could endanger the rainforest. The latest government data says most of the deforestation occurred in the states of Mato Grosso and Para, and marked a 13.7% rise over last year's figures. Mato Grosso is the top producer of grains in Brazil, and critics say expanding agriculture is also encroaching on the rainforest.
It's pretty bad. There are critics who say some species would literally have died out had the environmental agency not taken the limited steps it took over the past couple years
The first step in deforestation is removing the trees - so the logging companies are the initial scapegoats. Once the land is cleared, they can start raising cattle for beef sales - which is what 90% of the deforested Amazon is used for.
Beef eaters are funding the deforestation one purchase at a time: -
https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2018/01/18/Brazilian-beef-exports-keep-on-growing
The Amazon's new danger: Brazil sets sights on palm oil
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jun/29/brazil-palm-oil-amazon-rainforest-deforestation-temer-farming-para-cerrado
Brazil’s ambition to become a palm oil giant could have devastating social and environmental impacts if the move is not carefully managed, say experts
Jorge Antonini takes a palm kernel in his hands and slices it open. Squeezing it between his fingers, the kernel oozes the oily liquid found in hundreds of everyday products, from cakes to chocolate spread.
The scientist is standing on a government-owned farm near the Brazilian capital of Brasília. Here, he and a small group of colleagues from Embrapa, the powerful state-owned agricultural research agency, are trialling different methods of growing oil palms to improve yield.
20% of the Amazon rain forest is said to have been cleared in the past 50 years. Map that one.
The issue is the illegal logging and clearing.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Nowhere in that article was the incoming president blamed for past deforestation, you thick fuck. That's just you trying to make some stupid, pointless argument about nothing.
I don't respond to AC's.
This seems to be a world-wide trend. What is driving it?
The usual: Greed and profit
A handful of worthless people will get mega-rich, the planet (and everybody's future) will get a lot poorer.
No sig today...
Any economic growth while deficits and debt continually grow is a sham. It was a sham under Obama and its a sham under Trump.
I hate fat people.