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Brazil's President Aims To Destroy Amazon Rainforest, According To Leaked Documents

Brazil's President Aims To Destroy Amazon Rainforest, According To Leaked Documents

Leaked documents reveal President Jair Bolsonaro plans to see off indigenous Amazon population and start building in the rainforest

Simon Catling

Simon Catling

As the Amazon rainforest continues to dominate the news, with large sections of it currently ablaze, leaked documents have revealed that Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has plans for the region that could further wreck its rich biodiversity and displace the indigenous people that live within it.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
PA

Opendemocracy reports that the leaked documents show that the Bolsonaro government plans to strategically occupy the Amazon region so as to prevent several conservation projects for the rainforest.

Among these is the Triple A project which, as The Independent reports, is a conservation effort led by the organisation Gaia Amazonas that aims to conserve 265 million square kilometers of jungle.

However, these plans look seriously under threat if this newly leaked information is successfully acted upon. Among the plans revealed is a desire to build within the area, which come from a meeting in February, where ministers met with local leaders to discuss building a bridge over the Amazon River in the city of Óbidos, a hydroelectric plant in Oriximiná, and the expansion of the BR-163 highway to the Suriname border.

The effects of the wild fires.
PA

The leak also suggests Bolsonaro plans to move the tribes that live in the Amazon, and plans to use rhetoric to alienate and isolate the voices of indigenous people.

It is only in recent days that the world has become aware of the damage to what is often described as 'the planet's lungs', with a lack of communication on the issue coming from the Brazilian government.

Bolsonaro has argued that the country is being held back economically by protective measures regarding the rainforest.

French President Emmanuel Macron is among the world leaders to have spoken out about the fires. Macron called the situation an international crisis and said that issue should be discussed at the Group of Seven nations summit in France this weekend.

He tweeted: "Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rainforest the lungs which produces 20 per cent of our planet's oxygen is on fire."

Bolsonaro hit back with a tweet of his own, saying: "I regret that Macron seeks to make personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries. The sensationalist tone he used does nothing to solve the problem."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: World News