Brazil s promises to slash forest losses empty , researchers say ahead of Biden summit Reuters 4/19/2021
By Mauricio Angelo
BRASILIA, April 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Brazil s updated national climate change plan would allow the country to step up forest losses to a rate 78% above those before President Jair Bolsonao took office and 20% above last year s levels, Brazilian researchers said.
As Bolsonaro prepares to take part in U.S. President Joe Biden s international climate summit this week, Brazil s plan - announced in December - shows a lack of ambition to tackle climate change that could undermine global efforts, they said.
Bolsonaro s administration has overseen large-scale expansion of farming, ranching and mining in the Amazon and other natural areas of Brazil as the country pursues economic development.
By Mauricio Angelo
BRASILIA, April 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Brazil s updated national climate change plan would allow the country to step up forest losses to a rate 78% above those before President Jair Bolsonao took office and 20% above last year s levels, Brazilian researchers said.
As Bolsonaro prepares to take part in U.S. President Joe Biden s international climate summit this week, Brazil s plan - announced in December - shows a lack of ambition to tackle climate change that could undermine global efforts, they said.
Bolsonaro s administration has overseen large-scale expansion of farming, ranching and mining in the Amazon and other natural areas of Brazil as the country pursues economic development.
Intimidation of Brazil’s enviro scientists, academics, officials on upswing
Increasingly, Brazilian environmental researchers, academics and officials appear to be coming under fire for their scientific work or views, sometimes from the Jair Bolsonaro government, but also from anonymous Bolsonaro supporters.
Researchers and academics have come under attack for their scientific work on agrochemicals, deforestation and other topics, as well as for their socio-environmental views. Attacks have taken the form of anonymous insults and death threats, gag orders, equipment thefts, and even attempted kidnapping.
A range of intimidation is being experienced by officials, including firings and threats of retaliation for institutional criticism at IBAMA, Brazil’s environment agency, ICMBio, the Chico Mendes Institute of Biodiversity Conservation overseeing Brazil’s national parks, and FUNAI, the Indigenous affairs agency.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (center), greeting supporters while not wearing a mask, has a frosty relationship with the nation’s scientific community. Alan Santos/PR
‘A hostile environment.’ Brazilian scientists face rising attacks from Bolsonaro’s regime
Apr. 7, 2021 , 1:05 PM
Last week, scientists at the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), Brazil’s lead agency for studying and managing the nation’s vast protected areas, had to start abiding by an unwelcome new rule. It gives one of ICMBio’s top officials the authority to review all “manuscripts, texts and scientific compilations” before they are published.
Researchers fear President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, which has a markedly hostile relationship with Brazil’s scientific community, will use the reviews to censor studies that conflict with its ongoing efforts to weaken environmental protections. The administration says that is not the intent. But th