Too late to halt 2020 deforestation, vice-president says

Brazil’s vice-president Hamilton Mourao said the government started efforts to fight environmental destruction too late and that as a result soaring deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is unlikely to improve in 2020. deforestation in Brazil’s portion of the Amazon soared in 2019, the first year of Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, with researchers saying his calls for economic development in the Amazon have emboldened illegal loggers and land speculators. Mourao’s remarks were in reaction to data released by space research agency INPE on Friday that showed a further 25 per cent increase in the destruction for the first six months of 2020, compared to the same period a year ago. Bolsonaro deployed the military to fight Amazon deforestation and fires in May, but Mourao said it should have started in december last year.