Cartoons

The risks for Brazilian wildlife

It seems that Brazil’s fauna and flora can’t find a minute’s peace in 2019. Still recovering from the enormous Amazon fire crisis that killed thousands of animals, a new environmental problem has arisen. Hundreds of tons of crude oil have appeared on the country’s Northeast coast, affecting more than 139 areas.

Will 2019’s environmental crises ever let up for Brazil? In January and February, we had the fallout of the Brumadinho dam failure, which killed at least 249 people and countless animals, and the mud from the collapse spilled into the São Francisco River—the longest waterway to run entirely within Brazil’s borders. The region’s natural conditions will never be the same.

Then we had the burning of the Amazon, the largest rainforest in the world, with about 76 percent more fires than last year. The 2019 fires will have a big and long-lasting impact on the forest itself, and the wider world. It turned some areas into a completely different ecosystem, with fewer trees and species of flora and fauna. Many plants died and animals lost their habitats. Some species might disappear from the area entirely.

Mud, fire, and oil. Brazil’s environmental issues seem to be encompassing all elements. Well, with Brazil now under President Jair Bolsonaro after over a decade of Workers’ Party leadership, someone needs to ask the jaguars and capybaras about their political ideologies.