It fights for food sovereignty and ecologically sustainable agriculture.
It released the following statement on August 24.
***
Over the past few days, peoples and governments from around the world
have been witnessing the consequences of the recent and serious crimes
committed against the Amazon rainforest.
The thick clouds of smoke that covered the southeast of Brazil,
especially São Paulo, are a direct result of the dramatic increase of
fires set in several parts of the forest and transition areas with the
Cerrado tropical savanna.
It should be clear for society in Brazil, Latin America, and the
world that this is not an isolated phenomenon. In fact, it is the result
of a series of actions taken by agribusinesses and big miners since the
beginning of the Jair Bolsonaro administration, which has been actively
supporting and encouraging them.
After nearly two decades of reduction in deforestation, the country’s
current president and his environment minister, Ricardo Salles, engaged
in violent rhetoric against Brazilian environmental conservation
legislation and mechanisms, while also increasingly targeting and
criminalising those who have historically protected the Brazilian biomes
— peasant families and indigenous peoples.
