Amazon 'condemned to destruction' as fires proliferate across Brazil | World news | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/02/amazon-fires-brazil-rainforest-bolsonaro-destruction
“The Amazon is condemned to destruction,” despaired one former top official at Brazil’s enfeebled environmental agency, Ibama, accusing the far-right populist of overseeing a wholesale “demolition” of protection efforts.
“Under this government there will be no combating [of rainforest destruction],” the ex-official said. “The future looks dark.”
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satellite imagery being gathered by Brazil’s own space agency, Inpe, suggests those efforts are falling short. In August it detected more than 7,600 fires in Amazonas – one of nine states making up the Brazilian Amazon – the highest number since 1998 and nearly 1,000 more than last year. On Tuesday Inpe announced that across the entire Amazon region it had detected more than 29,307 fires in August – the second highest number in a decade and only slightly less than last year’s figure of 30,900.
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During a recent surveillance flight over four Amazon states – Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Pará – Batista also witnessed shocking scenes of devastation.
“We saw tracts of pasture that were burning, deforested areas that were burning, areas of forest that were burning. And it was obvious that down there in the forest below us nobody was staying at home [because of coronavirus],” he said.
Everyone – illegal loggers, land grabbers, illegal miners – they’re all up and running, and even more so than usual, safe in the knowledge that government inspections have been scaled back because of the pandemic.”