With the Amazon under threat, organizations identify Rodrigo Pacheco as key to the future of the forest and the climate
Given the number of bills that infringe on social and environmental rights, organizations are asking the president of the Senate to stop the attacks on the Amazon rainforest
Foto: Marcelo Camargo/Ag. Brasil
A video in English on Rodrigo Pacheco has begun to circulate on social media in Europe and the United States. The reason: the bills approved by the Lower House of Congress that will fuel the destruction of the Amazon – and that are now pending approval in the Federal Senate. As a result, the responsibility for the environmental destruction has shifted to the hands of Rodrigo Pacheco, the president of the Federal Senate, who is now the one person who can stop the attacks on the Amazon rainforest, according to the video.
Following the departure of the main architect of the environmental dismantling process – former environment minister Ricardo Salles – the National Congress has assumed the lead role in the setbacks. Several bills supported by Bolsonaro and his allies in Congress could abolish protections, legalize environmental crimes and strip indigenous peoples of all their rights.
The video was released in the same week that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published alarming data about the future if the world does not quickly achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Across the planet, the main source of emissions is the burning of fossil fuels. In Brazil, it is the burning of forests, such as the Amazon.
Studies show that the forest cannot sustain itself beyond a certain limit and that the increase in deforestation in recent years has brought it increasingly closer to this limit. This is why the video stresses that if the world loses the Amazon, it loses the future: forecasts by scientists indicate incredibly adverse conditions for human survival in scenarios of high carbon emissions.
Ever since Jair Bolsonaro assumed the presidency, the Amazon has been under unprecedented attack. In statements, videos, official visits and in particular through the dismantling of oversight and control mechanisms, Bolsonaro has supported all manner of illegal activity in the forest – from mining to land grabbing, as well as attacks on indigenous communities and criminal fires. The video is sponsored by Amazon Watch, APIB (Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), ClimaInfo, Conectas Human Rights, Engajamundo, Fridays for Future Brasil, Greenpeace, Instituto Socioambiental, Observatório do Clima and WWF Brasil.
Watch the video below:
