Despite claims of environmental leadership and promises to preserve the Amazon rainforest ahead of COP30, Brazil is stripping away protections for the regionβs vital ecosystems faster than workers dismantled the tents that housed the recent global climate summit in BelΓ©m.
On Nov. 27, less than a week after COP30 ended, a powerful political bloc in Brazilβs National Congress, representing agribusiness, and development interests, weakened safeguards for the Amazonβs rivers, forests, and Indigenous communities.
The rollback centered on provisions in an environmental licensing bill passed by the government a few months before COP30. The law began to take shape well before, during the Jair Bolsonaro presidency from 2019 to 2023. It reflected the deregulatory agenda of the rural caucus, the Frente Parlamentar da AgropecuΓ‘ria, which wielded significant power during his term and remains influential today.
Β© Brasil2
CHANCAY, PeruβThe elevator doors leading to the fifth-floor control center open like stage curtains onto a theater-sized screen.
This βOperations Productivity Dashboardβ instantaneously displays a battery of data: vehicle locations, shipping times, entry times, loading data, unloading data, efficiency statistics.
Most striking, though, are the bold lines arcing over the dashboardβs deep-blue Pacificβdigital streaks illustrating the routes that lead thousands of miles across the ocean, from this unassuming city, to Asiaβs biggest ports.
Β© Hidalgo Calatayud Espinoza/picture alliance via Getty Images
Login