Grassroots International Partners Speak out as Amazon Burns

As fire rages through the Amazon, the global community can no longer simply ignore the ongoing practices of deforestation, unchecked development and land grabs that threaten the region and, in fact, the planet. For nearly a month, spreading fires have devastated the landscape and its inhabitants.

Grassroots International partner, Maria Luisa Mendonça, co-director of the Network for Social Justice and Human Rights in Brazil (Rede Social) recently spoke on WNYC about the situation in Brazil. Maisa, as she is known, exposes the policies and rhetoric of the Bolsonaro Administration that have given an illegal “green light” to agribusiness, logging and other interests that systematically destroy one of the most bio-diverse regions on the planet. She exposes the political exploitation of people and the planet that fuel the fires in the Amazon.

“Destroying the forest will have a horrible effect on climate change…. and make certain parts of Latin America a complete desert,” Maisa says.

“Industrial agriculture, together with fossil fuels, are the main causes of climate change,” she adds, pointing out that Bolsanaro denies climate change. “We need a complete change in our energy system and our food system.”

You can listen to the broadcast here.