The great Amazon land grab – how Brazil’s government is turning public land private
Imagine that several state legislators decide that Yellowstone National Park is too big. Also imagine that, working with federal politicians, they change the law to downsize the park by a million acres, which they sell in a private auction. Outrageous? Yes. Unheard of? No. It happens routinely and with increasing frequency in the Brazilian Amazon. The most widely publicized threat to the Amazonian rainforest is deforestation. Less well understood is that public lands are being converted to private holdings in a land grab we’ve been studying for the past decade.
Much of this land is
cleared for cattle ranches and soybean farms, threatening
biodiversity and the Earth’s climate. Prior research has quantified how
much public land has been grabbed, but only for one type of public land called
“undesignated public
forests.”
Our research provides
a complete account across all classes of public land. We looked at Amazonia’s
most active deforestation frontier, southern Amazonas State, starting in 2012
as rates of deforestation began to increase because
of loosened regulatory oversight. Our research shows how land grabs are
tied to accelerating deforestation spearheaded by wealthy interests, and how
Brazil’s National Congress, by changing laws, is legitimizing
these land grabs…
Brazil
Is Engulfed by Ruling Class Corruption — and a Dangerous Subversion of
Democracy
Travis
Waldron - Brazil Is About To Show The World How A Modern Democracy Collapses
Jair
Bolsonaro launches assault on Amazon rainforest protections
The Amazon is burning. The climate is changing. And
we're doing nothing to stop it
