While the Campaign to STOP GE Trees primary mission is to stop the development and implementation of genetically engineered trees, we are constantly monitoring worldwide deforestation issues, including the abuse of the Brazilian Amazon.
The three articles below which highlight a recent move by the Brazilian government to open up another huge area of the Amazonian region, home to ancient indigenous communities, and also to mining speculators, both domestic and international. Its actions are emblematic of the persistent destruction of one of the rarest ecosystems on the planet in the name of short-term profit-making and political corruption.
1. Amazon Reserve the Size of Denmark Abolished – The Guardian
“The Brazilian president Michel Temer has abolished an Amazonian reserve the size of Denmark, prompting concerns of an influx of mineral companies, road-builders and workers into the species-rich forest.”
“We heard the cry of the land and the cry of the poor” – The major Catholic networks of Brasil, Bolívia, Colômbia, Equador, Guiana, Guiana Francesa, Peru, Venezuela e Suriname publicly condemn the Brazilian government’s decree which abolishes the RENCA Reserve”:
“The Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), linked to the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), and in Brazil a body linked to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), together with the Episcopal Commission for the CNBB, through its Presidency, together with the Pan-Amazon Catholic Church and Brazilian society, especially the peoples of the Waãpi and Rio Paru D’Este indigenous lands, publicly condemns the anti-democratic announcement of the highly damaging Presidential decree, which extinguishes the National Reserve of Copper and Associates (RENCA) last Wednesday (23 Aug 2017)”
3. Canadian Entrepreneurs Received Inside Information on Amazon Reserve Extinction – BrazilMonitor.org
“Canadian entrepreneurs knew that RENCA (National Reserve of Copper and Associates), located in the states of Pará and Amapá, would be extinct five months before the official announcement. The entrepreneurs learned of the change during the PDAC event (Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada) held in Toronto in March 2017. The information is from BBC Brazil.”