Deforestation more than doubled under Coronavirus
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Tropical rainforests shrank by 6,500 square kilometers in March. Criminal groups are taking advantage of the pandemic and the unemployed are getting desperate, the WWF said. As the COVID-19 virus was spreading around the world, deforestation in the world's rainforests rose at an alarming rate, the German arm of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a o study published last week.
New community rights violations by APP in Indonesia met by strong response from 90 environmental and human rights organisations.
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Following the latest case of the violation of communities’ rights in Indonesia, ninety environmental and human rights groups have published an open letter to investors and buyers asking to suspend business with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and affiliated companies, until it is proven and verified that they have made meaningful changes across their business operations. In the village of Lubuk Mandarsah (province of Jambi, Indonesia), an APP controlled plantation company, PT Wirakarya Sakti (WKS), sent drones flying over the community’s crops, spraying poison over villagers’ gardens in disputed land.
Coronavirus: 'Nature is sending us a message’, says UN environment chief
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La Andersen said humanity was placing too many pressures on the natural world with damaging consequences, and warned that failing to take care of the planet meant not taking care of ourselves. Leading scientists also said the Covid-19 outbreak was a “clear warning shot”, given that far more deadly diseases existed in wildlife, and that today’s civilisation was “playing with fire”. They said it was almost always human behaviour that caused diseases to spill over into humans.
Deforestation commodities spreading malaria
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Researchers, including one of an Indian-origin, have estimated that 20 per cent of the malaria risk in deforestation hot spots is driven by the international trade of exports including coffee, cocoa, palm oil, tobacco, beef and cotton. Previous studies have shown deforestation and rainforest disturbances can increase the transmission of malaria by creating conditions where mosquitoes thrive: warmer habitats and fewer predators.
Ex-missionary named to head Brazil agency
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Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, made the provocative nomination of Ricardo Lopes Dias to head FUNAI, the Brazilian government body that establishes and carries out policies relating to Indigenous Peoples. Dias’ nomination appears threatening. Any contact with outsiders exposes isolated Indigenous Peoples to the risk of disease and violence. Dias – an evangelical pastor – has been connected with the proselytising activities of the New Tribes Mission of Brazil (MNTB), a North American missionary organisation. As head of this department, he will have access to geographical information about more than 100 ‘voluntarily isolated’ peoples.