The Debate Over Saving Rain Forests Has Gotten Ugly Vincent Bevins - The Los Angeles Times
go to original October 17, 2016

The truth about deforestation: Sean Callebs provides insight on how the rain forest is being destroyed by various industries. (CCTV America)

Gunmen have killed a city official known for strongly enforcing environmental laws in a Brazilian state where conflicts over ongoing, wide-scale Amazon deforestation have led to bloodshed.

Luiz Araujo, environmental secretary for the city of Altamira, was killed in his home in front of his family last week, the city announced. The two men fled on a motorcycle without taking anything, leading to speculation that they were paid assassins.

...According to satellite data gathered by the Brazilian government, more than 2,300 square miles were deforested from August 2014 to July 2015 — a 24% increase on the previous year — and over a third of the loss took place in Pará. Altamira is only one city in the vast Brazilian Amazon, but with an area of 62,000 square miles, the single municipality Araujo oversaw is larger than the state of Georgia.

In a series of interviews with the Los Angeles Times last year, residents of Pará and environmental authorities said they believed those who spoke or acted out against deforestation faced the risk of death. Hired gunmen known as “pistoleiros” are often the chosen method of enforcement.

In addition to overseeing rules concerning deforestation — often for the production of beef and soy — Araujo also helped enforcement of prohibitions on illegal mining. A culture of lawlessness and the beef trade sometimes draw comparisons to days of the Wild West in the United States.

“There are a number of serious environmental problems in the Altamira area, including large-scale deforestation, illegal mining and the theft of land,” said Olavo Perin Galvao, 33, an agent with Brazil's IBAMA, or Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources. He has worked extensively in the region enforcing environmental laws and says his agency has suffered from serious budget cuts over the last year.

“We do not know what happened to [Araujo], but it's a constant occurrence in this country that people attempting to defend the environment are murdered by pistoleiros,” he said.

Read the whole article at The Los Angeles Times

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!