“Brazil Backpedals on Stringent Forest Protections”

…[A]nti-deforestation measures recently enacted…are not only increasingly ignored, but the nation’s National Congress is also moving forward on more legislation that would eliminated protections on as many as 1.1 million hectares of Amazonian rain forests...Danicley de Aguiar,…[from]…Greenpeace Brazil…[said:]…“By reducing Conservation Units, Brazil practically tears the Paris Agreement. There is no point in making an international commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and at the same time to end up with protected areas in Amazon…[M]easures to reduce Conservation Units and indigenous territories are not isolated issues, but rather a package of initiatives for the dismantling of environmental legislation in Brazil.”…[P]resident…Temer…has made it clear that the country’s powerful agribusiness interests will have more say in how the country conducts its environmental policy than under his predecessors …[S]ome countries…have reportedly said they will stop sending funds to Brazil if the country does not prove it can stop or slow this increased rate of deforestation. Investors have also insisted that companies in industries — such as the soy and beef sectors, which have had longstanding links to deforestation — do more to curb the lost of forests across Brazil…JBS…has been accused of knowingly purchasing cattle raised on illegally deforested lands for years….Brazil’s federal government announced…it would reduce the size of its environment ministry’s budget by over half…