Brazilian environmental agents cut the forest with machetes this Thursday (19) in search of criminals in the first anti-deforestation operations of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who promised to end the increasing destruction inherited from his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro (PL). ).
Reuters has exclusively followed incursions led by Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) into the Amazon rainforest in the state of Pará to prevent loggers and ranchers from illegally cutting down the forest.
Ibama also launched raids this week in the states of Roraima and Acre, said environmental inspection coordinator Tatiane Leite.
About ten Ibama agents left in pickup trucks on Thursday from their base in the municipality of Uruará, in Pará, along with a dozen federal police, heading for a cluster of points where satellite images showed loggers and farmers recently working on felling. forest illegally.
In 12 hours driving along dirt roads that illegally cut through an indigenous reserve, the convoy reached five areas deforested and burned at the time of last October’s election, which pitted Lula against Bolsonaro.
All areas are within the Cachoeira Seca Indigenous Land, where deforestation is strictly prohibited.
Four of the patches appear to have been later abandoned, with no signs of people living nearby or in the process of turning them into farms. Agents said it could be a sign that illegal ranchers have given up investing time and money to turn illegal land into productive pasture, knowing that Lula campaigned on promises to crack down on deforestation.
“People know that in this government, inspections will be stricter and will not allow them to use an area that they have illegally deforested,” said Givanildo dos Santos Lima, the agent who leads the Ibama mission in Uruara.
“If the other government had won, you would have found people here, well-tended pastures and cattle.”
Bolsonaro’s government had reduced IBAMA’s environmental enforcement staff and funding during its four-year term, as the former president criticized the agency for issuing fines to farmers and miners.
Bolsonaro gave the military and then the Ministry of Justice authority over operations to combat deforestation, bypassing Ibama, despite the agency’s vast experience and success in combating the destruction of the Amazon.
An area larger than Denmark has been deforested under Bolsonaro, a 60% increase over the previous four years.
In another area of the reserve, the agents found a newly built house, with several chainsaws and food stored for weeks, indicating that the occupants had probably fled shortly before the arrival of IBAMA.
Flanked by police with semi-automatic weapons, the environmental agents fought their way through the neighboring jungle to reach an area the size of 57 football fields littered with felled trees and piled logs.
A few haphazardly planted corn stalks reached knee-high in what appeared to be an attempt to claim the area and then turn it into cattle pasture, officials said.
“We’re going to come back with a helicopter and take them by surprise,” Lima said.
He was optimistic that Ibama will be able to carry out more raids on the Lula government, with the aim of fining deforesters and preventing criminals from trying to deforest more areas.
In last year’s election campaign, Lula promised to put Ibama back in charge of combating deforestation, with increased funding and personnel. He took office on Jan. 1, so additional money and staff have yet to reach the marshals on the front lines.
The Bolsonaro government has denied several Reuters requests to accompany Ibama missions during its 2019-2022 rule. His administration instituted an injunction prohibiting IBAMA agents from speaking to the press, which agents say has since been revoked.
Lula first took office in 2003, when deforestation in the Amazon was close to an all-time high, and through strict enforcement of environmental laws reduced it by 72%, to a near-record level, when he left office in 2010.
Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves
I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years, and my work has been featured on many different news websites. I am also an author, and my work has been published in several books. I specialize in opinion writing, and I often write about current events and controversial topics. I am a very well-rounded writer, and I have a lot of experience in different areas of journalism. I am a very hard worker, and I am always willing to put in the extra effort to get the job done.
