“It is not too late, it is absolutely necessary to curb this deforestation”, estimates Sunday, October 2 on franceinfo Plinio Sist, ecologist and director of the research unit on forests at CIRAD (Centre for international cooperation in agricultural research for development). Under the mandate of Jair Bolsonaro, the Amazonian forest literally melted: it lost 40,000 km², the equivalent of a country like Switzerland. “For four years, deforestation has continued to increase to exceed more than one million hectares per year”, laments the researcher.
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franceinfo: Is this rate of deforestation unprecedented?
It is not unprecedented because in the early 2000s, we had deforestation rates almost twice as high as those recorded over the past four years. On the other hand, it is unprecedented since 2018 because we had not recorded such rates of deforestation, which exceeds one million hectares. In fact, these are deforestation rates from more than 15 years ago.
What was the situation at the time of Lula’s mandates, from 2003 to 2010?
When Lula took over the first presidency in 2003, there were nearly three million hectares of deforestation. The highlight of Lula’s two terms is that in eight years he managed to reduce deforestation by 80%. We went from 2.7 million hectares of deforestation in 2004 to 460,000 in 2012. A very significant reduction.
Are we at a tipping point today?
In some regions, particularly in the south of the Amazon, we see phenomena of vegetation change. The dry seasons are getting bigger and longer. So the vegetation adapts to different climatic conditions.
However, one cannot generalize to the entire Amazon basin. The Brazilian Amazon represents more than 400 million hectares and the center of the Amazon is still relatively well preserved. So it is not too late, it is absolutely necessary to curb this deforestation. We should also add to this the phenomena of degradation which are just as important as deforestation. It is a fight against both deforestation and degradation that must be resumed as soon as possible.
Is Jair Bolsonaro directly responsible for the acceleration of deforestation?
He cut the budgets of state environmental protection agencies. He cut the budget of the Department of the Environment, which is at its lowest since 2000. He cut the budget of the Indigenous Peoples Foundation, which has virtually no budget left. Under his mandate, for four years, deforestation has continued to increase to once again exceed more than one million hectares per year.
He has a bit of a vision of the 1970s when there was a desire to economically develop the Amazon, the slogan being “Lands without men for men without land”.
“Today, with almost 20% of the Amazon which has been deforested and more than 20 million hectares of degraded land behind the pioneer front, there is no reason to deforest for the economic development of the Amazon”
Plinio Sist, ecologistat franceinfo
Moreover, when deforestation fell under Lula, it did not create more poverty than in previous years.
If Lula wins, can things really change?
Lula may be the president. But there are also local congressional elections. Brazil is a federal state with elections for the assemblies of these states. So Lula must also be supported locally by politicians who want to defend the Amazon. But on the international scene, he leaves with a certain confidence already since he has proven during his mandates that it is possible to fight against deforestation and that it was not inevitable.