New Found Hope for the Amazon Rainforest?

As most of you might already know, Brazil has been struggling for many years with an alarming number of wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon rainforest stores around 76 billion tonnes of carbon and the trees in the Amazon also release 20 billion tonnes of water into the atmosphere per day, playing a critical role in global and regional carbon and water cycles.

Last year, on one day in August alone, 3,358 fires were detected in the Brazilian Amazon. This was the highest number of fires recorded for any 24-hour period since 2007, according to Greenpeace. One of the main causes for this is the anti-environment agenda of Bolsonaro’s government. Thankfully, since December 31st, 2022, he is no longer president,.

Now, president Luiz Inacio Lula is president and seems to care more about the environment. Nonetheless, there is some concern because of his actions during his 2003-2010 presidency. Although he effectively reduced destruction of the rainforest during that time, he embraced traditional industrial development with little regard for emissions. On his watch, a state bank funded the beef industry's push into the Amazon and the state oil firm developed vast new oil reserves.

In spite of this, he said “Let’s fight for zero deforestation" in his victory speech and since he has been president, Brazil has launched their first raids against Amazon tree-cutters. This tells us that his presidency is already having a positive impact on deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

An agent of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) gets ready before going to an operation to combat of deforestation, in Uruara, Para State, Brazil January 19, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

There is also a Company called "Umgraumeio" which is on a mission to stop the spread of wildfires. It uses a portfolio of technology – including artificial intelligence (AI) – to prevent, detect and fight wildfires. Satellite and AI algorithms identify potential risk spots or smoke within seconds, and then send alerts.

The company says it has achieved 85% reduction of burned areas for bioenergy company BP Bunge, a 100% reduction in environmental fines for Ester Agroindustrial, and a 70% reduction in monitoring towers infrastructure for Brazilian sugar company Petribu.

This makes us more hopeful about the future of the Amazon Rainforest!

By: Ingrid Soler