{"id":512,"date":"2021-02-05T15:20:18","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/?p=512"},"modified":"2021-02-05T15:20:18","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:20:18","slug":"amazon-rainforest-destruction-surges-to-a-12-year-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/2021\/02\/05\/amazon-rainforest-destruction-surges-to-a-12-year-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon rainforest destruction surges to a 12-year high"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported more than 80,000 fires across Brazil in 2019, an 80 per cent increase year-over-year, inciting an \u201cinternational crisis\u201d in the Amazon that cannot be dismissed as accidental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe majority of the fires we\u2019re seeing now are because of deforestation,\u201d says Ane Alencar, the director of science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She and other environmentalists say most fires are a result of illegal attempts to quickly remove vegetation and clear land for cattle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This heartbreaking loss of biodiversity and horrendous displacement of Indiegnous peoples in Brazil cannot be overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of the Mura tribe continue to valiantly fight against the destruction of their home, the Amazon rainforest, and have struggled to have the land around their village demarcated as a protected official reserve for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor this forest, I will go on until my last drop of blood,\u201d tribe leader Raimundo Praia Belem Mura says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/2XZ4GoSb78gO-relmWE2A6ZGun4=\/1400x0\/filters:no_upscale()\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/19126415\/1163385128.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Image result for amazon rainforest\"\/><figcaption>Deforestation in Brazil&#8217;s Amazonas region, August 2019 | CARL DE SOUZA\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Brazil is the top exporter of beef in the world and nearly 50 per cent of Brazilian livestock are raised in fields that used to be rainforest, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2018 the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (ABIEC) reported that the country shipped 1.64 million tonnes of beef globally, and as demand continues to grow, farmers are making way for more pasture land.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to 1960 livestock were only raised on native grasslands, until the government created the goal of developing areas near the Amazon for animal agriculture use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Amazon provides about 20 per cent of the world\u2019s oxygen, and 60 per cent of the Amazon is located in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-flourish wp-block-embed-flourish\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/5126421\/embed#?secret=lGQY7qcJKm\" data-secret=\"lGQY7qcJKm\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"700\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Over 40,000 fires devastated the Amazon rainforest in 2019, particularly the state of Mato Grosso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Preliminary figures released last November by INPE revealed the vast destruction of the Amazon rainforest surged to a 12-year high. Official 2020 statistics are set to be released within the first half of this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported more than 80,000 fires across Brazil in 2019, an 80 per cent increase year-over-year, inciting an \u201cinternational crisis\u201d in the Amazon that cannot be dismissed as accidental. \u201cThe majority of the fires we\u2019re seeing now are because of deforestation,\u201d says Ane Alencar, the director of science at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":604,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions\/604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}