The heavy consequences of illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest

By Paola Matha, Human Rights Volunteer

The Brazilian government, since Jair Bolsonaro’s assumption of power in October 2018, has been reticent to take action to meet the country’s commitment under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change to eliminate all illegal deforestation by 2030. Despite continuing violence coming from illegal criminal networks who contribute to the deforestation of the Amazon forest, the president has cut back on the enforcement of environmental laws, weakened federal environmental agencies as well as criticised organisations and individuals working to protect the forest.

PHOTO SOURCE © Lucas Landau / Reuters

Background information

According to the Pastoral Land Commission, more than 300 individuals have been killed in the last decade over the use of land and resources in the Amazon rainforest. Many killings, attempted killings and cases of death threat were verified using tangible evidence by Human Rights Watch, which concluded that perpetrators were engaged in illegal deforestation.

Brazilians call them the ‘Ipê Mafia’, coming from the Ipê tree, extremely prized for its valuable wood. They are groups of individuals who contribute to the deforestation of the Amazon. Trees are cut down for logging, a practice used to extract timber to be exported to be used in millions of every-day essential items. Deforestation also occurs to make place for cattle ranching and to cultivate the land. The land is mostly used for growing soy which is Brazil’s number one export (accounting for 13.7% of total exports).

These illegal conducts in the Amazon have two major consequences: the encroachment on the land of Indigenous people and the contravention of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Indigenous people’s rights

The conflicts over the Amazon forest star the Indigenous community which seeks to protect its rightful presence on the land and illegal criminal groups which denude the forest in order to exploit the land or the resources found therein. Victims of the Ipê Mafia are mostly members of the Indigenous community seeking to protect and defend their land, but also includes environmental enforcement officials and other public officials defending the forest.

The Indigenous people of Brazil have the permanent right to live and work on Indigenous land under the country’s constitution. Indigenous land is owned by the state and belongs to Indigenous communities, in such way as to prevent it from being privatised. Hence, cutting down trees in the Amazon illegally is breaching the basic human right granting everybody the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of his property (art. 17, UDHR).

The right to a safe, clean and healthy environment

At the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Brazil committed to eliminating all illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest within its borders by 2030. Currently, the Indigenous communities of Brazil relying on the forest as their home, heritage and work continue to be threatened by the illegal deforestation of the Amazon. There have also been instances of not only State inaction, but decisions going contrary to the very constitution of Brazil. One such decision came from the Supreme Federal Court, where Justice Gilmar Mendes agreed to negotiate with the municipality of São Félix do Xingu over the entitlement of farmers to use and harvest land in the Amazon forest.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights held that a “failure to fulfil international climate change commitments is a prima facie violation of the States’ obligations to protect the human rights of its citizens.”

Tying it all up

Protecting the Amazon rainforest, by ultimately taking action against illegal activity contributing to deforestation, is not only necessary to protect the right of all citizens to a safe, clean and healthy environment, but to Indigenous communities who rely on the land for a living. If no action is taken by the Brazilian government to tackle illegal deforestation, the state of the environment - nationally and globally, will worsen, and we risk losing entire communities who have always contributed to the heritage of the country.