HRW accuses Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro of giving a 'green light' to illegal Amazon loggers destroying the world's largest rain forest
Bolsonaro, whose anti-environment rhetoric and policies have been widely blamed for a spike in fires and land clearing in the Amazon this year, has promised to open up the remote region to more development even as he faces growing international criticism.
Official figures show Amazon deforestation nearly doubled in the first eight months of this year, compared with the same period in 2018, to 6,404 square kilometres –– more than twice the size of Luxembourg. The acceleration in deforestation has been blamed for the sharp increase in fires this year, which official figures show have reached nearly 124,000, as land is cleared and burned to make way for cattle grazing or crops.
A decrease in precipitation and a recent heatwave together with strong winds are also factors in the blazes.Brazil is one of the deadliest countries in the world for land and environmental activists."Those responsible for the violence are rarely brought to justice," said the HRW report. In many cases, reports of death threats are not even investigated by police.
Far-right Bolsonaro, who was released from the hospital on Monday after another operation on his stomach following his stabbing at a campaign rally last year, has rejected Europe-led criticism of his environmental policies.Source: AFP
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