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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Deforestation |
|---|---|
| located: | USA, Brazil |
| editor: | Yair Oded |
For the past few weeks, a record-high wave of wildfires has been raging across the Amazon in Brazil. As concerned people and governments from across the globe rightfully point a blaming finger at Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who has encouraged development in the Amazon and slashed regulation mechanisms, they often fail to see the picture in its entirety and recognise the many other actors implicated in the destruction of the world’s most vital rain forest.
The catastrophe in the Amazon extends far beyond the wildfires we witness now, as those are a culmination of a problem with much deeper roots: a decades-long campaign by developers to turn the Amazon into a massive agribusiness hub by clearing the land. At the helm of this effort, an investigation by The Intercept reveals, is a company called Hidrovias do Brasil, which is owned primarily by the American corporation Blackstone, the CEO of which is a major donor to Republican senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and a close ally of president Trump.
Hidrovias has been involved in the construction of highway B.R. 163 which cuts through the Amazon and leads to an airport terminal (run exclusively by Hidrovias) that is being used by large-scale distributors of soy beans and grains. After his election in late 2018, president Bolsonaro announced that the company will take part in the extension of the B.R. 163, which will involve the addition of hundreds of miles to the already expansive highway.
As revealed by The Intercept, the B.R. 163 is directly linked with extensive deforestation of the Amazon, not only through the construction of the highway itself but also by encouraging development and clearing of lands in the areas around it. According to a Financial Times 2017 report, “Every year between 2004 and 2013 — except 2005 — while deforestation in Amazonia as a whole fell, it increased in the region around the B.R.-163.”
Roughly 10 percent of Hidrovias’ shares are owned directly by Blackstone, and over 50 percent of its shares are held by an additional Blackstone company called Pátria Investimentos. Blackstone co-founder and CEO, Stephen Schwarzman, reportedly donated millions of dollars to senate majority Mitch McConnell and his Super PAC, as well as served as a close adviser to president Trump, with whom he has a close friendship and for whom he has held lavish fundraising events.
Defending its operations, Blackstone stated that the company “is committed to responsible environmental stewardship,” and maintained that its operations overall led to a reduction of carbon emissions by farmers in the Amazon. The company also cited its approval by the International Finance Corporation, which vouched for Hidrovias by stating that the company and its partners all strictly abide by the Amazon Soy Moratorium – a policy banning the purchasing of soy raised on illegally cleared land. Alas, under the Bolsonaro regime, it becomes increasingly difficult to identify which land was unlawfully deforested, as the president deliberately guts regulation bodies, appoints agribusiness moguls to key positions in relevant government departments (such as the ministry of agriculture), and emboldens local ‘land grabbers’ to illegally clear land for farming and ranching. The operations of land-grabbers are directly linked to the catastrophic wildfires incinerating the Amazon right now.
The Amazon is referred to as ‘the lungs of the planet’ for a reason. Not only does it absorb a tremendous amount of CO2 emitted by humans into the atmosphere, but it also produces roughly a fifth of the world's oxygen. It is predicted that should the Amazon lose another fifth of its territory to development, it will bring us to a point of no return and would accelerate the process of rendering this planet uninhabitable for humans.
It is important that we understand the major role we, the citizens of the world, and particularly those in the West, play in contributing to the Amazon’s destruction by supporting the meat and agricultural industries’ unscrupulous practices. It is important that we understand that the stench behind the development in the Amazon stretches all the way to our doorstep, here in the U.S., and that the cash cow bankrolling deforestation in the Amazonia is the same one that finances some of America’s top leaders.
