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Funding for the environmental police has been dramatically reduced and President Bolsonaro has also said that the environmental police should no longer destroy the equipment used for deforestation.
The officer said his teams could no longer rely on support from the local police. He believes farmers, loggers and miners who can profit from destroying the forest have been emboldened because they feel they have the support of the government.
Footage shared online shows environmental police officers being attacked by mobs and loggers building road blocks to keep them out of the forest. The Brazilian government denies it is deliberately undermining environmental protection. It told the BBC it takes protecting the Amazon very seriously. It acknowledged that local officials had sometimes withdrawn police protection for environmental officers but said this was not official policy.
And it said the rules on burning the equipment loggers and farmers use had not changed. I was desperate to know how the Awa were getting on. After much phoning around we managed to get a message through to them.
It seemed like an eternity before we finally got a reply in January. It was a recorded message from Pirai. I could hear the jungle birds in the background but his words were full of foreboding. He had managed to send some photos of the community. I recognised many of the faces. They did not look like the happy people I had spent time with a decade earlier.
Their expressions were serious. Brazil cuts environment budget despite pledge. Celebs to Biden: Reject Amazon deal with Bolsonaro. Judge orders inquiry into Facebook rainforest ads. French supermarket chain sued by Amazonian groups. Brazil's Amazon deforestation 'highest since '. An indigenous leader trying to protect the Amazon. Will you join them?
Read our privacy policy. Leave a comment. Act when it matters most Every day more than 60 people sign up for news and alerts, to find out when their support helps most. Add new comment Your name : Required. Email : The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly. Bio-fuel targets in Europe mean that demand for palm oil is set to increase, despite the fact that more pollution is caused producing bio-fuels than is saved by not using petrol and diesel. Cats, dogs, pigs, cows and goldfish.
All the way from Asia, pets all over the country are eating food containing palm kernel meal. Imported products are products grown or made in other countries and then shipped to the UK, the opposite of this is exports - products made in the UK and sent to other countries.
One victim of palm oil plantations is the orangutan. Sadly, experts believe deforestation for palm oil is the single greatest threat to orangutans in the wild. According to the IUCN, over the last ten years their numbers have halved and up to are killed every year, despite their status as protected species. See our orangutan factsheet below for more information.
In Britain we destroyed our ancient forests thousands of years ago and used the land for farming. But we now know more about the important role that forests, especially rainforests play. The soya companies are often owned by foreigners, who are there to make money, so it does nothing to benefit the local people and their economic situation. Beneath rainforests there often lies a wealth of natural resources in the form of mineral and gold deposits.
Often people involved in small scale gold mining use mercury to extract the gold. Mercury is banned in Indonesia but is readily available for purchase by individuals. As well as damaging people's health, the mercury used goes on to pollute river systems and is the second-worse source of mercury pollution in the world, after the burning of fossil fuels. Large areas of forest in Indonesia are protected by law against any prospecting or open cast mining, although new rules do allow underground mining in protected areas.
Once roads are built to reach the mines, it becomes easier for illegal logging and poaching to take place. Brazil has the world's largest iron ore mine and has rich reserves of other metals such as zinc, nickel, tin and aluminium. It is possible that some of its forests may be opened up for mineral exploration.
The Amazon river is the second longest in the world and with its many tributaries it is a source of energy which could be harnessed. Brazil suffered an energy crisis in and is keen to develop this source of power. Unfortunately, the building of hydro-electric dams often results in major flooding which harms wildlife and can change the eco-system of the river downstream. Wood rotting underwater also releases carbon dioxide and methane greenhouse gases.
The Xingu river is the site of the world's third largest hydro-electric dam, the Belo Monte project where square miles square km will be flooded. Many indigenous people such as the Kayapo Indians are concerned about the potential loss of land.
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