Deforestation in the Amazon is accelerating despite the coronavirus

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Tribe is in danger by fire in the Amazon 6:48

(CNN) - The coronavirus pandemic has slowed the global economy, but deforestation in the Amazon is accelerating. While most of Brazil's major companies remain closed under confinement and quarantine measures, many believe that illegal loggers and miners continue to operate in the area with little or no regulation.

Deforestation in the Brazilian rain forest increased by almost 64% in April this year, compared to the same month last year, according to data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Last month alone, in April, more than 405.6 square kilometers of rain forest was destroyed, a vast swath roughly the size of California.

The first quarter of 2020 had already seen an increase of more than 50% in deforestation compared to last year, according to INPE data.

• Amazon deforestation rate reaches highest level in more than a decade

More than 3,000 soldiers from the Brazilian Armed Forces have been deployed to the Amazon, along with environmental officials, to help curb illegal logging and other criminal activities that could affect the rain forest, according to the Defense Ministry.

President Jair Bolsonaro has previously faced criticism and global condemnation for deforestation occurring under his supervision. The far-right, business-friendly president has promised to explore the economic potential of the rain forest.

Last year, after the massive fires consumed large areas of the rain forest, Bolsonaro was accused of fueling the activity of illegal ranchers, miners and loggers, many of whom use fire as a quick way to cut down trees to clear crops and livestock grazing. By November 2019, the deforestation rate in the Amazon had reached its highest level in more than a decade.

"We are well on the way to another record year of deforestation and fires in the Amazon," said Adriana Charoux, an Amazon activist for Greenpeace Brazil in a recent statement. "In the midst of the pandemic, Bolsonaro is doubling down on actions that would effectively disintegrate indigenous territories and lead to further deforestation for meat production.

• The Amazon lost the equivalent of 8.4 million soccer fields in this decade due to deforestation

One of the measures Bolsonaro is pressing for now is Provisional Measure 910 (MP 910), a law that could allow so-called "land grabbers", who illegally invaded public land from 2011 to 2018, to establish legal ownership. The measure was scheduled to be voted on in Congress on Wednesday, but had no quorum.

The hashtag # NoMP910 was trending in Brazil on Wednesday, with environmentalists and Brazilians generally protesting against the vote. “It is our land, territory, place. Our environment is not a political-electoral currency, ”the indigenous activist Mayalú Txucarramãe tweeted in her personal account. "Stop genocide and ecocide."

Bolsonaro has frequently criticized the amount of Amazon land officially demarcated as indigenous territory for considering it excessive. Last February, at an event at the Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, he said it was "abusive" that such a large portion of the territory was occupied by regional tribes, leaving "their assets hidden forever."

Coronavirus deaths among indigenous people of Brazil

Approximately 13% of Brazil is indigenous land, mainly in the Amazon. This land is officially reserved for the country's 900,000 indigenous people, which represents less than 0.5% of the country's population.

Activists fear that increased commercial activity in the Amazon also carries an increased risk that outsiders will bring contagious diseases to indigenous communities, including the coronavirus.

"People in the Amazon do not have the antibodies for diseases that come from outside the jungle," Brazilian activist and photographer Sebastião Salgado told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in a recent interview. "There is a great danger that the coronavirus could enter indigenous territory and become a true genocide."

Salgado, who currently lives in Paris and has spent several decades photographing Brazil's indigenous communities, told Amanpour that when he had worked in the Amazon in the past, he had to undergo a 10-day quarantine, but said he fears that now “The door is open” so that anyone can invade indigenous lands and potentially expose them to diseases such as the coronavirus.

At least 277 cases and 19 coronavirus-related deaths have been confirmed so far among indigenous tribes in Brazil, according to SESAI, a specialized branch of the Brazilian Ministry of Health that deals with health problems among indigenous populations. . Many of these have been registered in the Alto Río Solimões, in the state of Amazonas.

SESAI said it has sent hundreds of N95 masks, gloves, and disposable glasses to dozens of tribes across the country. It has also launched a flu vaccination campaign and an information campaign on covid-19, according to a recent report.

On the Colombian side of the Amazon, 30 deaths and 924 cases of coronaviruses have been registered, 212 of them in the indigenous population. The Government of Colombia issued a decree ordering the governor of the department of Amazonas, in the south of the country, and the mayor of Leticia, the departmental capital, to close all activities, with the exception of those strictly necessary for health, supply and essential services until May 30.

But environmental groups, such as Survival International, believe that the only way to help indigenous peoples, especially isolated tribes, is to keep illegal loggers and miners out of their territory.

"If their lands are adequately protected from outsiders, uncontacted tribes should be relatively safe from the coronavirus pandemic. But many of their territories are being invaded and stolen for logging, mining and agribusiness, with the encouragement of President Bolsonaro, ”Survival International's Uncontacted Tribes activist Sarah Shenker said in a recent statement.

"When invaders are present, the coronavirus could destroy entire villages. It is a matter of life and death ”.

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