Bolsonaro under fire over Amazon

Rio de Janeiro – President Jair Bolsonaro’s government has responded to less than 3% of deforestation alerts, a sign that “impunity reigns” in the destruction of Brazil’s forests, an environmental monitor said this week.

MapBiomas, a consortium that uses satellite images to track the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, said it had launched a new platform to cross-check reported deforestation with government records on fines, arrests and other responses by environmental authorities.

It said that since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, the federal government had responded to just 2.17% of deforestation alerts.

Bolsonaro has drawn international condemnation for a surge in clear-cutting and fires in the Amazon, a key resource in the race to curb climate change. –