ALERT member Philip Fearnside, arguably the world’s leading authority on Amazon conservation, tells us about chilling recent events in Brazil:

The last two months have seen a spectacular series of blows to Brazil’s environmental licensing system and other eco-protections.

These have occurred in the days and even hours leading up to a congressional vote to begin impeachment actions against president Michel Temer, based on serious revelations of corruption.

Environmental Nightmares

There have been so many environmental and political setbacks recently that it’s difficult to know where to start.

For one thing, President Temer supported and signed the notorious “land-thieves law” that legitimizes illegal land claims of up to 2,500 hectares in area (the size of 5,000 football fields), many of which are in the Amazon rainforest.

Temer also reneged on an earlier promise to oppose an intensely controversial law that would gut the environmental licensing system for projects such as dams and highways (see here and here).