The protection of the Brazilian Amazon jungle, the largest natural reserve in the world and considered the lungs of the planet, is a challenge that seeks to face with new technologies, resources, and cooperation alliances between neighboring countries to contain the penetration of crime organized drug trafficking and gangs that plunder the natural resources of this natural reservoir for international trafficking, says the Brazilian Attorney General, Augusto Aras.
The official, who is making a three-day visit to Washington to exchange experiences with other officials from the region gathered during an event held at the Organization of American States (OAS), speaks with the voice of america about the work plans and the impact that a coverage project has had in the Amazon during its four-year term that will end in September.
“In the Amazon there is illegal exploitation of minerals, especially gold and precious stones (…) organized crime groups from all over the world use the Amazon to extract minerals and export them to Europe and other countries; In addition, Brazil is being used as a route for drug trafficking on different fronts and that has allowed money laundering,” says Aras.
The Brazilian prosecutor maintains that all these criminal actions that are concentrated in a vast region of millions of square kilometers must be faced, optimizing resources and innovating with proprietary technology.
He adds that there are “many challenges” to protect this natural resource which, according to estimates by environmental organizations, has lost around 1.6 million hectares of primary forest in the last decade, product of illegal logging and arson for looting property. Likewise, Aras points out that the experts grouped in the Scientific Panel for the Amazon (PCA) warn of a “serious danger” of reaching a point of “no return” to protect the jungle.
As in charge of looking after the interests of the State, the prosecutor explains that the innovation project to deal with the defense of the Amazon has led to the transformation and reorganization of federal resources allocated to the Public Ministry, and to transform the units for complete coverage.
Thus, 27 units have been created that work throughout the country and coordinate actions and transfer immediate information to the headquarters to apply actions to prosecute crime.
“In the Amazon we have developed several tools such as scientific research and with tools of our own technological development such as the georadar, that It is a computer tool that allows us to evaluate, investigate, collect data in seconds, hours or a maximum in less than a week, which used to take months, to provide information, for example, on illegal invasions of mining land without legal authorization, species trafficking animals”, among others, explains the official.
The Brazilian Amazon jungle covers nine of the 26 states of the country, plus the Federal District, where the capital, Brasilia, is located, and in the jungle area it shares borders with countries of the southern cone such as Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. so cooperation with neighboring countries cannot be overlooked.
He triumph of Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva at the end of 2022 and his arrival at the presidency this year have offered hope for the president’s commitment to “stop the destruction” of the Amazon, which has experienced an accelerated increase in logging since 2019.
This coincides with the management of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who weakened environmental protection and urged in public appearances –even during the campaign for his re-election – to expand the exploitation of indigenous lands for commercial purposes.
The Observátorio do Clima, a Brazilian environmental organization, reported that the destruction of the Amazon rainforest increased by 60% during the administration of former President Bolsonaro.
Prosecutor Aras tells the VOA No more resources have been received to direct the entire project to combat criminal networks in the Amazon and provide modern equipment to the units created. “We are doing it with the same budget”, he assures, before pointing out that in order to reach the areas of illegal activities, however: “we have bought helicopters”.
Brazil heads the list of the 3 countries in the world that together represent 52% of the world’s tropical forests, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia, these countries would have already started talks for reforestation projects on a large scale.
International cooperation
Attorney General Aras assures that in order to protect the Amazon, they have also advanced in conversations with the southern neighbors with whom it shares borders, because the routes of organized crime and goods trafficking flow from one to the other at those points. One of the best known is the tri-border of Colombia, Peru and Brazil.
“A month ago we were in Argentina at a meeting of prosecutors from the entire area and we discussed issues such as the fight against transnational crime and those organized groups that illegally extract resources without leaving any benefit to the States, such as paying taxes” , recalls the chief prosecutor.
It is estimated that the Amazon, whose area is shared between six countries and the three Guyanas, measures approximately 6.7 million square kilometers and absorbs some 1.5 million tons of CO2 per year, a figure that would be equivalent to 4% of the produced by the burning of fossil fuels in the world.
Despite the accelerated destruction of the forests, the arson, the incursion of illegal farms to raise cattle has reversed the volume, since 2021 the so-called “lungs of the planet” would be emitting more greenhouse gases than it absorbs alerted Magazine Nature.
Under this scenario, Aras adds that the priority for Brazil must now be to expand and improve “communication between all State agencies” so that they can flow in a single strategy to combat all forms of crime that seriously endanger the Amazon.
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