Lula launches first anti-deforestation raids to protect Amazon forest

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
20 Jan 15:15
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Prior to winning the elections, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pledged to rid the forest of illegal loggers in October 2022.

Brazil's environmental protection agency IBAMA launches first anti-deforestation raids under Lula to protect the Amazon. January 19, 2023. (Reuters)

Brazil's environmental protection agency IBAMA launched its first anti-deforestation raid on Thursday in search of illegal loggers that are contributing to the Amazon's deforestation.

Prior to winning the elections, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pledged to rid the forest of illegal loggers in October 2022.

Most of the destruction that occurs in the Amazon is owed to Lula's predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who implemented a series of reforms to sideline important agencies like IBAMA, and also suspended the Amazon Fund in November 2019 following a quarrel with Norway.

According to Reuters, agents from the IBAMA agency launched raids in multiple states over the past week, including Para, Roraima and Acre.

The police is able to track illegal loggers thanks to satellite images showing loggers clearing forests.

Tracts that appeared abandoned by IBAMA agents were said to be a sign that illegal ranchers gave up on turning illegal land into pastures.

Agents said it could be a sign that illegal ranchers gave up on plans to turn illegal land into productive pasture in light of Lula's pledge to crack down on illegal ranchers and loggers.

"If the other government had won, you would have found people here, well-maintained pastures and cattle."

During the four-year term in which Bolsonaro served as president, environmental agencies such as IBAMA lost tremendous amounts of financial resources.

Not only did he implement several brutal budget cuts, but he also blamed IBAMA for issuing fines to farmers and miners. He also granted the military and the Ministry of Justice authority to oversee operations to counter deforestation - once more minimizing IBAMA's role and value in protecting the environment.

Deforestation surged under Bolsonaro

According to government figures released on January 7, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by 150 percent in December compared to the previous year, providing a final bleak report for Bolsonaro in his final month in office.

The national space agency's DETER surveillance program reports that satellite monitoring detected 218.4 square kilometers (84.3 square miles) of forest cover destruction in Brazil's share of the world's largest rainforest last month.

The area was nearly four times the size of Manhattan and was up more than 150 percent from the 87.2 square kilometers destroyed in December 2021, according to INPE.

Under Bolsonaro, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by 75.5 percent over the previous decade.

"Bolsonaro's government may be over, but his tragic environmental legacy will still be felt for a long time," Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a coalition of environmental groups, said in a statement.

After 2017 and 2015, it was the third-worst December on record for the eight-year-old DETER program.

Deforestation was also at or near record levels in 2022 during the critical dry-season months of August, September, and October, when clear-cutting and fires often increase due to drier weather.

Lula presided over a sharp drop in deforestation when he previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

He has vowed to relaunch Brazil's environmental protection programs, fight for zero deforestation, and ensure that the South American giant is no longer a "pariah" when it comes to climate change.