While the world is focused on other crises, the Amazon rainforest is being decimated | Opinion

There is a global threat that hasn’t grabbed the headlines amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, but that is just as dangerous: the destruction of the Amazon rainforest that has happened during the first four months this year.

According to Brazil’s national space research institute INPE, a government agency, 754 square miles of Brazil’s Amazon were destroyed between January and April, a 69% increase from the same period of 2021.

In April, the clearing of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest by loggers, cattle ranchers and miners reached a new record for that month. Studies show that several parts of the Amazon already are releasing more carbon dioxide than they absorb, worsening the global climate crisis.

Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups blame right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro for the rampant destruction of the Amazon. Bolsonaro has vowed to stop the illegal exploitation of the Amazon by 2030, but, at the same time, he has suggested that more farming and mining in the region will help reduce poverty.

“The continued deforestation highs are a direct result of President Bolsonaro’s sabotage of environmental law enforcement in Brazil,” said André Freitas, of Greenpeace Brazil, in a statement. “The individuals perpetuating illegal deforestation have impunity as only 2% of the deforestation alerts have been investigated by authorities in recent years.”

Criticism of the Bolsonaro government’s weak law enforcement in the Amazon has grown following the recent disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and Bruno Araújo, an expert on indigenous people. They disappeared as they were traveling in a remote area of the forest to report on illegal fishing and hunting.

Last week, top U.S. and Brazilian officials discussed the alarming new Amazon deforestation figures at side meetings during the June 6-10 Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles.

In an interview after the summit, I asked President Biden’s top climate-change envoy, former Secretary of State John Kerry, whether the Bolsonaro government has the political will to stop the destruction of the rainforest.

Kerry told me that, in his discussions with Brazil ‘s minister of Justice and the minister of the Environment at the summit, “Both ministers acknowledged that, indeed, it [deforestation] has gone up, and that there has been a problem.”

Kerry added he was working with the two ministers to create a group of Brazilian and U.S. experts to identify specific ways to improve enforcement of Brazilian laws. “Both ministers were deeply committed to this,” Kerry told me.

The Summit of the Americas agreed to provide up to $50 billion from several regional financial institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank over the next five years to support climate-change goals in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“It’s a very, very significant announcement, one of the most significant announcements from the summit, and it will have a profound impact,” Kerry told me. The funds will go mostly to solar, wind and other green-energy projects, he said.

Environmentalists welcome the $50 billion commitment, but warn that such commitments are often delayed because of red tape or legal impediments. They say environmental groups and public opinion must press their governments for the rapid and proper disbursement of these funds.

Bolsonaro critics fear that the current rates of destruction of the Amazon will get even worse in coming months. Brazil will hold presidential elections in October, and Bolsonaro may seek as much economic growth as possible in the Amazon for electoral reasons.

“If we look at what’s been happening over the past few years, we must obviously be very skeptical about Bolsonaro,” says Javier Sierra, a spokesman for the Sierra Club. “He has been one of the most destructive agents in virtually the whole world’s climate community.”

Regardless of whether or not that statement is too harsh, there’s no question that the Amazon is being destroyed at a record pace while the world is focused on other crises.

It’s time to put climate change and the destruction of the rainforest at the center of the global agenda, right next to the invasion of Ukraine, and COVID-19. Otherwise, governments will do very little, and the global climate crisis will get much worse — and much faster than expected.

Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show on Sundays at 7 pm E.T. on CNN en Español. Twitter: @oppenheimera; Blog: www.andresoppenheimer.com

This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 4:53 PM.