Year D for the Amazon

After two years of pandemic and with a new variant of the coronavirus crossing the planet, I would like to write that the signs point to a better new year. But all the data suggests that 2022 could be the worst year in recent history for the Amazon rainforest. And the worst year for the Amazon is a worst year for the world. It is not about pessimism or optimism, those two keys today turn wrong. With the climatic emergency and the sixth mass extinction of species underway, we are in another type of world war, and for this there will be no possible reconstruction, as there was after 1945. The vital supports of the Earth, such as the tropical forests, do not they can be recovered from a certain point of destruction. 2022 could be year D for the Amazon.And the outcome will largely depend on the pressure the Europeans put on their parliaments and the European Union.

The most recent polls show that, in the Brazilian elections of 2022, Lula da Silva will beat Jair Bolsonaro in any scenario. It is clear that there is a lot of ground ahead and that the defeat of the ultra-rightist seeking reelection is not guaranteed. It is also obvious that he will try to amplify the coup in his last year in office, but he has less and less support. The only certainty of their base of support - the

(thieves of public lands), the loggers and the illegal miners - is that 2022 is the last year in which they have assured free looting of the Amazon.

I have just returned from an expedition to the deep jungle and the devastation is terrifying. In some cases, as Bolsonaro has lowered controls and encouraged the destroyers, the peoples of the jungle have gone to work for their enemies, becoming corrupted. Resisting communities and leaders are threatened with death. Transnational companies increase the pressure to establish themselves, taking advantage of the fact that there is an open bar. The year will end with the jungle collapsing.

One of the few possibilities to reverse or at least limit the destruction is to put pressure on the owners of the money.

The pressure has to be unprecedented: much greater and stronger than it has been until now.

Any negotiation with Brazil and with Brazilian companies or those that operate in Brazil must be directly conditioned to the proven conservation of the forest.

It is unacceptable that the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur is signed while Bolsonaro is president.

Any step in this direction will be a fatal blow to the jungle and its peoples.

The pressure of each citizen counts.

Let's toast on New Year's Eve to being alive despite everything, and, the next day, let's all stand up for the bigger fight: guaranteeing that our children have a home-planet in which to live.

Translation of

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Brazil forgets COP26 and opens the door to illegal mining in the Amazon

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