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Highlights
- Brazil now has the second-highest number of documented COVID-19 cases, with 400,000 confirmed cases and 25,000 deaths
- According to the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, an indigenous rights organization, the mortality rate among the indigenous population of nearly one million is double that experienced in Brazil overall
- The entire Amazon region has seen an estimated 2,278 positive cases and 504 deaths across approximately 73 different Amazon indigenous nations
- Rapid deforestation is still occurring while the pandemic spreads through the Amazon
- Under his administration, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has granted amnesty for fines for illegal deforestation, slashed budgets for environmental law enforcement, criticized scientists, and blamed indigenous communities for last years fires
- Other environmental threats to the Amazon include two oil pipelines that collapsed in Ecuador, releasing roughly 15,000 barrels of oil into the Amazon’s waterways
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Read More: https://grist.org/justice/deforestation-oil-spills-and-coronavirus-crises-converge-in-the-amazon/
Nina Turner
Energy Programs and Communications CoordinatorJanina is a graduate of the Energy Management and Design program at Sonoma State University with experience in non-profits that specialize in sustainability and volunteerism.
