INDIAN WISDOM
„Only when the last tree has been cleared, the last river poisoned,
the last fish caught and the last Indian driven away,
will you realise that you have destroyed yourselves.“
Slash and burn in the Amazon
Development from 2010 to 2021 - each on 5 September, the official day of Amazônia. Reasons for climate change made visible. The destruction of the primeval forest recorded by NASA satellites.
The rainforest needs at least a hundred years to recover
From the magazine "Der Spiegel" by Julia Köppe, 2019
The devastating fires in the Amazon rainforest endanger the entire ecosystem. The ecosystem, weakened by deforestation and climate change, is threatened with collapse. (...)
FIRE CLEARING & DESTRUCTION
The green lung is burning
The rainforest in Brazil is the largest in the world - but it is becoming smaller and smaller: Between August 2019 and July 2020, a total of 11,088 square kilometres of jungle were destroyed by deforestation and gold prospecting in the Amazon, according to Brazilian space agency INPE, based on satellite imagery. Compared to the same period last year, forest reduction in 2020 increased by 9.5 percent due to deforestation alone. The cleared area is larger than the island nation of Jamaica.
The Amazon rainforest is considered the Earth's "green lung". Because it binds immense amounts of CO2, it is also extremely important for the world's climate.
Activists warned early on that 2020 would be the most destructive year for the Brazilian rainforest: Fauna and flora on their way to destruction on an extraordinary scale.
In addition to deforestation and the poisoning of rivers, as the map clearly shows, huge areas throughout the Amazon (in red) are being destroyed with pesticides from the air - similar to the Vietnam War - in order to gain arable land for soya or cattle. This means that these pesticides also enter the global food cycle. So they also reach us. Not to mention the destruction of the habitat of the peoples living in these areas.
SOY EARNINGS
Soy production threatens Brazilian jungle
Tofu, soy milk and soy sauce:
80 percent of the coveted bean is processed into meal, which then ends up as feed in animal troughs. The hunger for meat is growing worldwide, and it can be produced well with the relatively cheap soy feed.
From 2000 to 2010, 24 million hectares of land in South America became arable land through slash-and-burn and deforestation. Unique habitats for plants and animals are lost, fertile soil is destroyed and vital water is contaminated.
GOLD GRANTS
Illegal gold miners destroy the rainforest
Along the roads and rivers that run through the rainforest, muddy brown patches appear at the edges: illegal gold mines. Every day, hundreds of miners set off in search of gold - everyday life in the world's largest rainforest. Another reason for the systematic destruction of the rainforest and the poisoning of the rivers.
