- Brazil is the South American country that has suffered the most from the coronavirus epidemic, with 1,328 deaths and 23,430 infections. The virus has affected not only the health of the population, but also nature, as deforestation in the Amazon has grown by 50% over the same period last year due to lack of control by the authorities.
The Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (INMA) has reported the news from satellite images. In the first three months of 2020 the forest has lost 796.08 square kilometers, the highest figure of the first three months of the year since 2016. Last year, 525 square kilometers were lost on the same dates.
Experts hope that deforestation will increase, which has aroused criticism from environmental groups, who have criticised progress. They have asked the Brazilian Government for responsibilities, which they have accused of not carrying out any kind of control. They have also pointed out that Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, is known as an anti-environmentalist and has expressed himself on numerous occasions in favour of deforestation in the Amazon.
The guilt of wood traffickers
The Government recognizes that the pandemic has forced all its efforts into health crises. However, Vice-President Hamilton Mourao, who runs the Amazon National Council, has blamed wood hunters for the scandal he has committed. As you said, they have taken advantage of the crisis in order to illegally store timber.
Mourao added that a kiris management cabinet has been set up to implement measures against those involved in deforestation. The Ministries of Defence, Justice and the Environment will be involved in this cabinet. This plan will be presented to the president, who will decide what position to take. However, the Vice-President has hoped that this programme will "increase Brazil's capacity for repression" over crimes against the Amazon.
Deforestation and plague, united
Last month, Greenpeace issued a statement stating that damage to the environment makes possible the spread of pests. He explained that the fact that humans are in territories that have not existed until then means that they come into contact with new animal species and that, consequently, human beings face diseases that are not immune.
In the case of Brazil, it has somehow been the other way around. Wood harvesting workers have brought to the forest unknown viruses so far by the Amazon population, where the spread of Covid-19 has also begun. This situation is even more worrying in the Amazon, where there is no health structure to combat the epidemic.