Article Author:
Associated Press
Fabiano Maisonave
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In a move that has shocked environmentalists, the government of Brazil's third-largest state has abandoned its legal battle. did. He protects a state park in one of the Amazon's most biodiverse areas. The upshot of that decision is that those responsible for the extensive deforestation of the protected land will finally win the lawsuit against the government.The park will be gone.
Antonio Jose Rossi Junqueira Vilera was fined millions of dollars for deforestation in Brazil and stealing thousands of hectares (acres) of Amazon rainforest. However, it was the company associated with him that filed a lawsuit against the state of Mato Grosso, claiming that he improperly set the boundaries of the Cristalino II State Park.
The park spans 118,000 hectares (292,000 acres) of his, larger than New York City, and lies in a transitional zone between the Amazon and the arid Cerrado his biome. It is home to the endemic white spider monkey (Ateles marginatus), which is endangered due to habitat loss.
In a three-to-two ruling, Mato Grosso's Superior Court ruled that the government's creation of his park in 2001 was illegal because it occurred without public consultation.
The state government did not appeal the decision and referred it to a final decision. Now the park is officially disbanded, a government news agency confirmed to The Associated Press.
The loss of the park is a measure of how bad things are today for Amazon. Not only are environmental laws not enforced, courts are currently voiding major protected areas. Scientists say that not only are ecosystems being lost, but also that large-scale deforestation is undermining the ability of forests to absorb carbon dioxide, which plays an important role for the planet.
Laying waste in the forest
Before he challenged the legitimacy of Cristalino II Park, Villera's presence was already well known there. I was. In 2005, he was fined $27 million for deforestation of 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) within the reserve, according to local reports at the time.
2016 In 2016, the Vilela family made headlines in Brazil for being at the center of a groundbreaking crackdown on deforestation in the Amazon known as Operation Flying Rivers, carried out by Brazil's environmental agency Ibama. Federal Police and Attorney General.
Vilela was also charged with logging 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of public forest in the state of Para. That's his five minutes in Manhattan. Brazil's attorney general called Vilera the worst deforestation perpetrator the Amazon has ever seen.
Legal proceedings in Brazil often take years. If convicted in the Para case, Vilela could face more than 200 years in prison. He could be fined over $60 million.
Attorney Renato Maurilio Lopez, who has represented both Vilera and affiliates, did not respond to messages left by the AP on Wednesday and Thursday.
According to Mauricio Torres, a geographer and researcher at Parafederal University, Vilera's family follows a "typical script for land grabbing in the Amazon."
The way to steal land in Brazil is to clear the forest and then claim it, he said. ¨ It is through deforestation that land robbers materialize land ownership and are recognized as 'owners' by other gangs," he wrote to the AP. 54}
According to official data, as of March 2022, Cristalino II had lost about 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres) to deforestation, despite being a fully protected area. rice field. The destroyed area covers almost 20% of the park.
Brazil's largest soybean-producing state, Mato he Grosso, is run by Governor Mauro Mendes. Mauro Mendes is an agribusiness-promoting politician and far-right Jair who is a supporter of President Bolsonaro. He reiterated that Brazil has too many reserves and should not create more of them.
Mendez's Secretary of State for the Environment is Moren Lazaretti, a lawyer who has made a career of defending loggers against environmental-related criminal charges.
During his tenure, Mato Grosso experienced the worst environmental disaster in Brazil's history. In 2020, wildfires burned down 40% of the state's Pantanal biome, the world's most extensive tropical wetland. Mendez signed a law Thursday allowing cattle to be raised on private reserves in the Pantanal.
In an email, Mato Grosso's environment secretary said he would go ahead with the park's dissolution and did not appeal because it was "deemed technically unfeasible." The office said adjacent Cristalino State Park I is still a protected area, covering 66,000 hectares (163,000 acres) of Amazon rainforest.
The Mato Grosso Social and Environmental Observatory, a non-profit network, said in a statement that the park's extinction set a "dangerous precedent" and demonstrated the inability of state governments to protect protected areas. It said it was considering legal options to keep Cristalino II.
"The public should not have to pay for the state of Mato Grosso's neglect and incompetence," Angela Cusack, head of the national network of conservation units, told her AP.
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