President Jair Bolsonaro's speech to the UN just now, a significant portion of which is dedicated to defending Brazil's environmental record. Largely the same arguments he has been making domestically but just on the global stage.
Bolsonaro said that Brazil is the victim of a brutal misinformation campaign about the Amazon. While the govt has faced fierce criticism on it, it's unclear what the incorrect information is. Fires in the Amazon are at a 10-year high YTD and an all-time high in the Pantanal.
He blamed shady interests behind the criticisms of Brazil on enviro. You can find out most parties behind, say, the #defundbolsonaro campaign, such as indigenous group APIB if you look. EU farmers meanwhile overtly see Brazil as a competitor and don't want to let in its products.
Bolsonaro told the UN that he has a zero tolerance policy for environmental crimes. But looking at the data, Amazon rainforest fires are up, 2020's official deforestation measure will be way up, while environmental fines have been falling.
Bolsonaro touted the fact that Brazil has preserved 66% of its territory, which is true. Yet scientists such as Carlos Nobre say as little as 3% more of the Amazon needs to be destroyed to put it into a death spiral in which it dries out turns into savanna, releasing a lot of CO2
He said that the Amazon is a humid forest and doesn't allow fires to spread. While the Amazon is naturally fire-resistant, fires in forest (not agriculture areas or deforested areas) accounted for 43% of the major Amazon fires in September maaproject.org/2020/amazon-fi…
Bolsonaro said the fires are the same areas being burned repeatedly and are set by indigenous to their farmland in areas that are already cleared. But 43% of the fires in September are in virgin forest, while 49% are in areas newly deforested from 2018-20 maaproject.org/2020/amazon-fi…
Bolsonaro said that Brazil did everything it could to agree to rules on effective carbon markets at COP25 UN climate conference. But Brazil's demands that old Kyoto carbon credits be counted, which would dilute the market so much as to undermine it, were a key reason talks failed
He said high temperatures and accumulated decaying organic matter make fire inevitable. But fire in Amazon is set by humans, not natural, plus much organic matter on the ground is from human deforestation. Fire can be natural in Pantanal, but most fires believed to be human set
Bolsonaro said that the Amazon region - the size of western Europe - is so vast it is hard to police. This is undoubtedly true. He also said Brazil has sent the military to the Amazon as part of enhanced enviro protection efforts.
Hardest to unpack is that Brazil is pushing land regularization (handing out deeds to squatters on public land) to bring enviro criminals to justice. Con: Gives amnesty to past enviro crimes, possibly ups legal deforestation Pro: make those with deeds easier to police in future
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