In Brazil, since Lula’s return to power, deforestation has decreased in the Amazon, but it continues vigorously in other regions of the country, also ecologically important. This is particularly the case of the Pantanal, a vast area of humid meadows and savannahs, cradle of the jaguar. The NGO Mighty Earth, which monitors deforestation by satellite and highlights the associated agricultural sectors, highlights in a new report the use of a new technique to destroy the forest and settle livestock there: chemical deforestation.
Last April, a large agricultural producer was sentenced to a record fine in Brazil, in the state of Mato Grosso: 500 million dollars. The police demonstrated that in a few years, this owner of eleven farms sprayed, by plane, about twenty different chemical products to destroy more than 80,000 hectares of forest in the Pantanal.
In Brazil, deforestation is usually done by cutting down trees. But satellites detect this method easily, because green and wooded areas suddenly turn black when seen from the sky.
Aerial view of a deforestation zone in the Amazon, September 15, 2021 in Labrea, Brazil – MAURO PIMENTEL © 2019 AFP
“It’s criminal”
Chemical deforestation, on the other hand, is more discreet in an attempt to deceive the authorities. “When we use chemical deforestation, the trees will die gradually. Little by little, the leaves will fall, the trees will become weaker and eventually die. So, it will give the impression that it is a natural degradation of the forest, but it is not the case. It is criminal,” explains Mariana Ganeiro, from the NGO Mighty Earth.
And the harmful effects of pesticides extend far beyond the spraying zone. “It flies with the winds. “It will kill not only the trees, but all the local biodiversity, all the local vegetation, the animals… It will also have an impact on the health of the communities that are nearby, and above all, it will affect the quality of the water,” adds Mariana Ganeiro. A particularly devastating pollution in the Pantanal, a humid region where rivers play a central role.
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