Brazilian Justice Minister Authorizes National Force to Combat Amazon Deforestation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The National Public Security Force will act again in the State of Pará, this time in an operation to combat the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in São Félix do Xingu, in the southwest of the state. The measure grants a request from the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA).

The ordinance under which Minister of Justice and Public Safety Sérgio Moro authorizes the employment of the National Force in support of IBAMA was published in the Federal Gazette on Wednesday, July 10th, and came into force the same day. According to the document, the action should last until July 30th and may be extended.

Protected areas in the Amazon have already lost the equivalent to six cities the size of São Paulo in vegetation in three decades. A total of 953,000 hectares were deforested in Conservation Units, indigenous lands, and quilombolas, which should have remained fully preserved. In Pará, around the Tapajós National Forest, there is pressure from soybeans farming and ranching.

Outside the protected areas, the Amazon lost 39.8 million hectares in three decades, representing 19 percent of all the undefined natural forest that existed in 1985, a loss equivalent to 262 cities the size of São Paulo.

Pastures and agriculture represent 84 percent of what has become the Amazon over the last 33 years.