FABIANO MAISON NAVE, Associated Press
Rio de Janeiro (AP) —According to a report released today, Peru has fallen into one of the worst political crises in history, failing to protect the Amazon rainforest. Peru has the second largest part of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil. The country has promised to stop deforestation by 2021.
South American countries have been in political turmoil since 2016. The corruption scandal and the dispute between the government and the legislature have led to a fierce change of four presidents in five years. Peru’s current president, left-wing outsider Pedro Castillo, has already survived two impeachment attempts since taking office in July 2021.
The Amazon in Peru is huge, larger than Ukraine, on about 68 million hectares (168 million acres). It has the headwaters of the Amazon River and Manu National Park, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world. It is a transition zone between the Andes and the lowlands of the rainforest and is rich in microclimate and ecosystems.
However, oversight of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), an initiative of the non-profit Amazon Conservation Association, reports that deforestation in the Amazon in Peru has reached six historic highs in the last decade. The analysis is based on data from the University of Maryland, which has held records since 2002.
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The worst year in history was 2020, when Peru lost about 170,000 hectares (420,000 acres) of the Amazon rainforest. Although that number declined last year, it is still ranked sixth in the record. I also agree with the official Peruvian data that will only pass until 2020.
Corrupt actors benefiting from environmental crime, according to the report, have led to a political crisis as well as a lack of government ability to combat environmental crime. “In addition, the Peruvian government continues to prioritize economic development over the protection of the Amazon rainforest.” The Igarapé Institute commissioned a report to InSight Crime, a non-profit organization focused on investigating crime in Latin America. ..
Like the Brazilian Amazon, livestock and agriculture are the main drivers of deforestation. Agribusiness companies and poor immigrants from other parts of Peru illegally seize land. Other illegal activities that harm forests are gold mining, logging and coca plantations.
“Agriculture is now well established,” said MAAP Director Matt Finer, as a major driver of deforestation concentrated in the Amazon in central and southern Peru. .. “
The report, entitled “The Roots of Environmental Crime in the Amazon in Peru,” identifies three parties behind deforestation. An entrepreneurial crime network that benefits from timber, land or drug trading, and cheap labor — low-wage workers who cut trees and plant coca crops.
The products of these illegal activities end up in other parts of the world. Most of the gold exports are directed to Switzerland, the United States, India and Canada. The domestic market in Peru absorbs most of the timber. Exports mainly go to China. According to a survey by InsightCrime, it is estimated that about 28% of Peru’s gold production is illegal and most timber extraction is done without permission.
“The political crisis has distracted us a lot from environmental problems,” said former Environment Minister Manuel Purgarbidal in an interview with the Rio de Janeiro Associate Press, on the sidelines of a climate change conference hosted by the Brazilian Center. Said as a person. International affairs, thinking tank. Ukrainian pandemics and wars have exacerbated these problems, he said.
He said the current government is also promoting activities such as illegal mining and logging. The former minister linked this to the unexpected death of many environmental advocates.
Peru’s Ministry of the Environment, which was contacted by phone and email on Monday, did not respond to requests for comment on Amazon’s current situation.
The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest and a huge carbon sink. Concerns are widespread that the destruction not only releases large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, but also complicates the hope of delaying climate change, but also pushes it beyond the turning point. After that, many forests begin an irreversible degradation process. In the tropical savanna.
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