A new report reveals the Amazon rainforest has suffered a devastating setback after conservation efforts lowered the deforestation rate in Brazil by nearly 50% in 2023.  

What's happening?

In mid-October, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime reported that mass fires are ravaging the Amazon basin, with illegal gold miners and land grabbers setting the blazes in order to clear the forest for other purposes, including excavations, livestock rearing, and the growth of lucrative crops like soybeans and palm oil. 

While Indigenous communities often set small, controlled fires as part of their sustainable agricultural traditions, criminals are repurposing them to clear large areas, as the report notes. More than 27 million acres of the Brazilian Amazon have been destroyed this year. 

Anti-environment political protests are also playing a role in the start of the fires. Meanwhile, a record drought has exacerbated the blazes, which have also wreaked havoc in Peru. 

Why is this important? 

According to the report, the fires have not only disrupted the food supply chain and the livelihoods of those who depend on the Amazon, but they have also spewed the equivalent of 34.7 million tons of toxic carbon pollution into the atmosphere from June to August.

This was a "reversal" of the progress made to slow down carbon emissions under the leadership of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over the previous year. 

Protecting the Amazon is crucial because it acts as a "carbon sink," helping to regulate Earth's climate by soaking up around 25% of the CO2 absorbed by land, per National Geographic. However, deforestation is reducing its ability to keep the planet's temperatures in balance, as well as threatening the biodiverse plant and animal species that call the rainforest home. 

What's being done about this?

The Global Initiative writes "this now-critical situation has spurred the Brazilian government into action." The Lula administration has announced plans to increase fines for violators who start forest fires, with the previous regulations doing little to deter the crime. 

The government has also revealed that environmental protection agencies will receive a small boost to their 2025 budgets, and it says a greenlit interstate highway between Manaus and Porto Velho will help its response toward the fires. 

However, conservationists have criticized the latter project — which Global Initiative notes "has been a long-standing demand of politically influential land grabbers, who see it as a gateway to expanding cattle ranching and gold mining into protected rainforest areas."

Agencies have also argued they need more political support and resources to effectively deal with the challenges facing the rainforest. For its part, Global Initiative says it is helping to provide crucial data about wildfires through its open-source mapping tool. You can support conservation efforts by donating to organizations working to protect the Amazon.

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