Brazil's supreme court has confirmed substantial changes to the laws protecting the rainforest, making it more vulnerable to deforestation.
In the Amazon, the deforestation rate, after reaching its peak between 2015 and 2016 — a period in which an area of forest 135 times the size of Manhattan disappeared — is falling slightly for the first time in three years. The delicate balance of the forest is nonetheless at risk, and a study published in the scientific journal Science Advances stated that if more than 20 per cent of its surface were destroyed, it could lose its characteristics irreversibly. Despite this, last Tuesday Brazil's federal supreme court made sweeping changes to the laws protecting the Amazon rainforest and its precious ecosystems.
The national Congress approved revisions to a 2012 law; among the changes is an amnesty for landowners who illegally cleared trees before 2008. The area of deforested land that, under a law dating back to 1965, must be restored by landowners — who are required to keep a percentage of their land forested — has also been significantly reduced. The area that must by law be protected has been cut overall by nearly 300,000 square kilometres, an area equivalent to that of Italy.
Environmentalists believe the new forest law will make deforestation more acceptable, thereby endangering the survival of the world's largest rainforest and its extraordinary biodiversity.
Without the constraints of the past, farmers will be able to expand their crops and cultivate even in areas particularly vulnerable to erosion when cleared, such as hilltops and riverbanks. The agricultural lobby, which is particularly influential in Brazil, welcomed the decision, arguing that the new laws will allow further growth of the agricultural sector and the economy of the country, without having to continue prosecuting the crimes of the past.