On Exit, Bolsonaro Clearcuts A Swath of Amazon Distortion
October 31, 2022
Lia Chien
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro lost his reelection bid October 30 after a bitter contest that returned left-wing former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to power.
It remained unclear whether Bolsonaro, who considers former U.S. President Donald Trump an ideological ally, will accept the results of the voting. But what is clear is that during his campaign, Bolsonaro consistently misrepresented his stewardship of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.
Why does that matter?
Because the Amazon, which covers an area about half the size of the U.S., is the world’s most important ecosystem. Its vast and diverse expanse of rivers, trees and vegetation sustains 10 percent of all species and 500 Indigenous communities. It produces about 6 percent of the world’s oxygen and is an enormous repository of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming.
Scientists estimate the forest stores the equivalent of five or six years’ worth of human-made carbon. But now, thanks to uncontrolled destruction in the forest – from logging, fires, grazing, and dams – they say the Amazon may have flipped to a net contributor to global warming.
More:
https://www.polygraph.info/a/fact-check-on-exit-bolsonaro-clearcuts-a-swath-of-amazon-distortion/6813350.html