The Brazilian Amazon is under attack, but nobody seems to care anymore

Deforestation is advancing, according to satellite photographs. Not surprisingly, Bolsonaro, who is vile, cleared fewer Amazonian forests than Lula did up to 2008

The leftist president cleared over 25,396 square kilometers of lawful (i.e., legally protected) Amazonia in 2003, the first year of his two previous presidencies. The next year, he outdid himself and broke the record for the largest area of forest cleared since satellite scans first started in 1988, with as many as 27,772 square kilometers of trees falling. And for those who have defended its management after 2009, when deforestation fell, it is important to remember that the world economic crisis, not Lula's ecological concerns, abruptly reduced foreign demand for Amazon resources.