Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Sept 4, 2019 16:20:38 GMT 2
(.#A.011).- Brazil sacrifices the Amazon for its agricultural sector.
Brazil sacrifices the Amazon for its agricultural sector.
Monday, August 5, 2019.
President Bolsonaro wants to increase the country's exports.
RIO DE JANEIRO - (AFP)
Brazil's growing agricultural exports are raising fears of further progress on Brazil's agricultural frontier, to the detriment of the Amazon forest, the "lung of the planet," and other endangered ecosystems.
In this Brazil of President Jair Bolsonaro, known climate-septic, considered as a champion of the agro-trade, monocultures such as soybean or livestock are most often encouraged to the detriment of small family farms that have a more measured impact on the environment.
CONFLICTS
This progress, in favor of an export-oriented model, comes at the cost of massive deforestation in the Amazon or in the Cerrado savannah. With growing conflicts with traditional communities or indigenous tribes, whose territories are grin-like, in addition to climate consequences, this is the subject of an IPCC report on land use currently being discussed in Geneva.
GREENHOUSE GAS
The free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), which still has to be ratified by the Member States on both sides of the Atlantic, could further boost these exports. The text states that Europeans undertake not to import soya or meat from deforested land, but its application remains unclear.
The agricultural sector alone was responsible for more than two-thirds (71%) of Brazil's CO2 emissions in 2017, out of a total of 2.07 billion cubic meters, the 7th largest in the world, according to the latest estimates of SEEG (Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment System.
This system, set up by the NGO group Observatoire du climat, takes into account direct emissions, particularly those linked to methane from cattle, but especially indirect ones, due to deforestation, including by burning.
No less than 46% of SEEG's Brazilian emissions come from "changes in land use". Translation: huge areas of Amazon rainforest or savannah transformed into agricultural land.
Although the signatory countries of the EU-Mercosur agreement have a de facto commitment to respect the Paris climate agreement, the Brazilian head of state has already stated that it would be impossible for his country to achieve its objective of reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030, compared to 2005.
F I N.
Brazil sacrifices the Amazon for its agricultural sector.
Monday, August 5, 2019.
President Bolsonaro wants to increase the country's exports.
RIO DE JANEIRO - (AFP)
Brazil's growing agricultural exports are raising fears of further progress on Brazil's agricultural frontier, to the detriment of the Amazon forest, the "lung of the planet," and other endangered ecosystems.
In this Brazil of President Jair Bolsonaro, known climate-septic, considered as a champion of the agro-trade, monocultures such as soybean or livestock are most often encouraged to the detriment of small family farms that have a more measured impact on the environment.
CONFLICTS
This progress, in favor of an export-oriented model, comes at the cost of massive deforestation in the Amazon or in the Cerrado savannah. With growing conflicts with traditional communities or indigenous tribes, whose territories are grin-like, in addition to climate consequences, this is the subject of an IPCC report on land use currently being discussed in Geneva.
GREENHOUSE GAS
The free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), which still has to be ratified by the Member States on both sides of the Atlantic, could further boost these exports. The text states that Europeans undertake not to import soya or meat from deforested land, but its application remains unclear.
The agricultural sector alone was responsible for more than two-thirds (71%) of Brazil's CO2 emissions in 2017, out of a total of 2.07 billion cubic meters, the 7th largest in the world, according to the latest estimates of SEEG (Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment System.
This system, set up by the NGO group Observatoire du climat, takes into account direct emissions, particularly those linked to methane from cattle, but especially indirect ones, due to deforestation, including by burning.
No less than 46% of SEEG's Brazilian emissions come from "changes in land use". Translation: huge areas of Amazon rainforest or savannah transformed into agricultural land.
Although the signatory countries of the EU-Mercosur agreement have a de facto commitment to respect the Paris climate agreement, the Brazilian head of state has already stated that it would be impossible for his country to achieve its objective of reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030, compared to 2005.
F I N.