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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s most recent effort to reduce the destruction of the Amazon rainforest has failed, The Washington Post reports. Bolsonaro’s plan to deploy military troops and take illegal mining operations by surprise ultimately failed when miners got wind of it.
Why This Matters: The health of the Amazon rainforest is crucial in the fight against climate change.
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A new report from the environmental nonprofit Oceana finds that Amazon has increased the amount of plastic packaging it uses every year. Last year, according to Oceana’s estimates, the company generated enough plastic packaging to circle the globe 500 times.
Why this Matters: Oceana also found that less than 1% of Amazon’s plastic waste ended up in rivers, lakes, and oceans. But it’s 1% of a huge number — that amounts to the equivalent of dumping one delivery van full of plastic into marine ecosystems every 70 minutes.
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by Natasha Lasky, ODP Contributing Writer In October, deforestation rose in the Amazon for the first time in four months. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, has refused to take action against logging in the Amazon calling the act “cultural” and expressing that it “will never end.” Yet this year, from July to September, logging slowed because […]
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Fires are “ravaging” the biodiversity-rich Pantanal region of Brazil, Jake Spring of Reuters reported Tuesday. In the first fifteen days of August alone, the national space research agency of Brazil recorded 3,121 fires, which is almost five times greater than last year. Already, 6% of the Pantanal burned from January to July due to high temperatures, dry conditions, and high winds.
Why This Matters: As the world’s largest wetland, the Pantanal is home to key biodiversity.
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A recent study published in Science found that a significant percentage of beef and soy exported from Brazil to the EU is connected with illegal deforestation. As YaleE360 reported that “as much as 22 percent of soy and 60 percent of beef…back to illegal tree felling and fires in the Amazon and Cerrado regions.”
Why This Matters: The study’s lead author Raoni Rajão said, “Until now, agribusiness and the Brazilian government have claimed that they cannot monitor the entire supply chain, nor distinguish the legal from the illegal deforestation.” This new study undercuts that idea, showing that Brazil can (and must) monitor agribusiness’ connections to illegal deforestation.
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Last month, online retail giant Amazon announced its Climate Pledge Fund–a $2 billion that will invest in companies that develop innovative ways to reduce carbon emissions. Shortly after Amazon also announced that it will be renaming the Seattle NHL stadium, Climate Pledge Arena as a nod to its corporate climate commitments (Amazon released more details […]
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