Article Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/7/brazils-carbon-emissions-rose-in-2019-with-amazon-deforestation
Between 2004-2012 Brazil reduced gas emissions, however, new data reveals that Brazil will fail to meet carbon emissions targets for this year. Although Brazil has committed to the Paris Climate Accord, they are moving farther away from the 2025 goal. And the Brazilian government is bound by law to meet targets set by the 2009 Copenhagen, however, if Brazil continues to reverse emissions trends, they will not be able meet their goals.
The 9.6% increase in carbon emissions in 2019 has been attributed to the rise in deforestation within the Amazon. During the first year of Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, there was a 17% increase in Amazon fires. These fires are not just the result of drought and dry underbrush, they are manmade. Ranchers set the Amazon aflame in order to create more grazing space for cattle, and illegal loggers have used trees to sell firewood. This has resulted in skyrocketing deforestation.
While President Bolsonaro banned setting fires for three months, his efforts to combat deforestation and wildfires has not been adequate. Vice President Hamilton Mourao, head of the task force watching events in the Amazon, led a three-day visit with foreign ambassadors to improve the government’s international image on the environment. However, environmentalists have condemned the trip, calling it whitewash. While deforestation and wildfires are at a 10-year high, the government is trying to hide evidence of destruction.
The deterioration of the Amazon Rainforest is not a regional problem, it is a global issue. And while the Brazilian government should take a proactive approach, the destruction of the rainforest requires international support. Global environmental actors, such as the UNEP, should increase participation within the Amazon.
In light of the 2020 U.S. election, and president-elect Joe Biden’s commitment to environmental policy, the U.S. may increase their participation within the Amazon. This may include economic incentives to encourage the Brazilian government to take a more proactive approach to discourage degradation of the Amazon. Economic investment within Brazil may also provide the opportunity for the country to move towards clean energy resources and economic stability (reducing illegal logging). The loss of the Amazon is not just contributing to a rise in carbon dioxide, it also destroys vast ecosystems, wiping out entire animal and insect species.
Marcio Astini, Climate Observatory Executive Secretary, said that Brazil’s 2020 emissions goals could have been easily reached, with the absence of the tragic illegal fires within the Amazon.