Dear reader,
Greetings from the Brazilian Amazon, where I am happy to report a significant reduction in deforestation since I started working here last year. Living here has given me a unique perspective on the dramatic and positive transformation of the Brazilian government’s approach to the climate crisis, nature conservation and indigenous rights. I’m the first rainforest-based columnist for an English-language newspaper. I’m hoping that you might agree today to underwrite my work by supporting the Guardian.
From my home in Altamira, which is a centre of biodiversity and destruction, I have borne witness to a change in policy that has reduced the most direct human impacts on nature. The situation today is a far cry from a year ago, when the ultra-rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro was in power. He had given a green light to illegal loggers, land grabbers and wildcat miners, unleashing a surge of deforestation. August, September and October 2022 were horrendous. I could see the flames from my home, smell the destruction in the air and - somewhere deep down - feel the staggering loss of life.
I have seen many forest fires in the past. Like most journalists, I reported on the destruction in terms of hectares, or football pitches, or comparisons with Manhattan or Wales. But living here made me realise it is not enough to describe the devastation solely in terms of real estate. This land is alive. More alive than anywhere else on the planet. It is dense with plants, teeming with insects, filled with the calls of birds, frogs and monkeys. So when we talk about land clearance, we should be clear that this means a slaughter.
I asked scientists at two respected institutes - Imazon and MapBiomas - to make a calculation: how many non-human lives had been lost in the Amazon during Bolsonaro’s presidency. In that four-year period, more than 2bn trees of at least 10cm in diameter were killed. The number of monkeys killed, injured or otherwise affected in this period is between 1.6m and 3.8m, while the number of birds that have lost nests, habitats or lives is between 78.1m and 89.9million. That is a horrendous tally.
The election victory of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has slowed the carnage impressively. Since he took power in January, Amazon land clearance has fallen to a five-year low and the government now has a target of zero deforestation in all Brazilian biomes by 2030. For the first time in history, the government also includes a Ministry for Indigenous Peoples in recognition of the fact - proven in numerous scientific studies - that native communities are the most effective guardians of biodiversity and carbon sinks.
These are necessary and positive steps, but nobody should get carried away. Congress remains dominated by agricultural and mining interests, most state governors and mayors in the Amazon are Bolsonarist, and Lula is dependent on a broad coalition that includes many of those who would like to carve up the rainforest. | | | | | Under his watch, the damage has decelerated, but the direction has not yet changed. The economics of destruction are too powerful for that to happen in such a short time. The growing impacts of human-caused climate disruption and the ongoing El Niño weather cycle have been apparent recently in a severe drought across much of the Amazon, which has led to fires and mass die-offs of endangered river dolphins and other species.
All of this underscores the need for investigative journalism and on-the-ground reports that put pressure on governments and corporations to cut emissions and reduce deforestation. In order for voters and policymakers to make informed decisions, it is vital that they be made aware of negative environmental and social impacts that are often hidden from corporate balance sheets and media reports written in far-off centres of power and money. This is the bread and butter of Guardian journalism. Will you support us today?
The Guardian puts those socio-environmental issues front and centre in its coverage of world affairs. Our environment team is second to none in terms of the quality and quantity of reporting, with specialised desks and journalists for nature and the oceans, along with more than a dozen journalists and editors based in the UK, US and Australia. That the Guardian has a columnist and former global environmental editor based in the Amazon is a further sign of that commitment to covering the world from a different, more nature-focused perspective. No other newspaper or TV company has such a presence, not even in Brazil.
That we are able to do this is thanks to readers and supporters like you. You have given us independence, kept us free of owners and shareholders, and reduced our reliance on advertisers. You have made it clear that you are deeply concerned about what is happening to the climate, the oceans and the rainforests - and the people who depend on them. And we have listened and adjusted our priorities and resources accordingly.
It is not always easy living in a rainforest. There are fewer creature comforts and more, erm, creatures. There are also risks - more from people than jaguars, snakes and insects - that feel closer than they did in the city. And there is a degree of isolation, even though I live in a friendly community. But, over and above all of this, it is a privilege to spend this time here, immersed in vitality and beauty, covering a story of global importance, and sharing that experience with readers who are similarly concerned and fascinated. Thank you for making this possible.
Supporting the Guardian today, ensures that this can continue. It doesn’t need to be expensive – you can give once from just £1. Or better yet, set up a monthly amount from £2. | | | | | Jonathan Watts
Global Environment Editor
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