Deforestation and land-grabbing at full steam during Covid-19

With a significant number of people isolating at home, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought many industries to their knees. However, illegal land-grabbing, mining, logging, and poaching in the Brazilian Amazon continue at full steam, with criminals using the pandemic period to ramp up deforestation in the region.

According to data from the National Institute of Space Research (Inpe) and its real-time deforestation detection system, alerts of deforestation in the Amazon increased 63.75 percent in April, compared to last year. This uptick in forest destruction is also affecting indigenous and preserved areas of the region, with alerts in these territories rising 59 percent in the first four months of 2020.

The increase in Amazon deforestation is a long-lasting trend that dates back to before President Jair Bolsonaro took office, but his government has consistently taken a stance in favor of the so-called “economic utilization” of the region, with a message that empowers those who seek to deforest land and set up agricultural, mining, and energy projects.

Furthermore, Brazil’s Covid-19 epidemic has seen a...