Environment, 3rd prize
Amazon: Paradise Threatened
Daniel Beltra
20 January, 2017
Zamapa iron ore strip mine, just 30 kilometers from the Tumucumaque National Park in Amapá, Brazilian Amazon. In August, President Michel Temer issued a decree allowing mining across a formerly protected area of Amapá that was approximately the size of Switzerland. Although the decree was later revoked, there are concerns that protection may again be lifted.
After declining from major peaks in 1995 and 2004, the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased sharply in 2016, under pressure from logging, mining, agriculture and hydropower developments. The Amazon forest is one of Earth’s great ‘carbon sinks’, absorbing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and acting as a climate regulator. Without it, the world’s ability to lock up carbon would be reduced, compounding the effects of global warming.
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