Two leading consumer brands have halted purchases of Brazilian leather. Scandinavian pension funds are examining holdings in companies with high exposure to deforestation. Nordea’s asset management arm has suspended purchases of Brazilian government bonds. These decisions come in response to a 67 per cent increase in the number of fires this summer in the Amazon rainforest, many started deliberately. Often preceded by logging, they are intended to clear trees for cattle ranching and crop planting.
The Amazon is a uniquely valuable natural resource, vital for its rich biodiversity and its role in draining carbon dioxide and influencing global weather patterns. The fires which consume thousands of hectares of virgin forest each year are depressingly familiar. New this year was the more laid-back attitude of Brazil’s president. The nationalist Jair Bolsonaro wants to open more of the Amazon to development. Budget cuts to Brazil’s environmental agency and pressure on rangers not to enforce strict conservation laws have emboldened ranchers to log and burn more freely. Sacking the head of the space agency monitoring deforestation compounded the problem.
An ensuing international outcry forced Mr Bolsonaro to send in the armed forces to fight the Amazon fires. He now claims “zero tolerance” for environmental crimes. This should fool nobody. His record in office points to a clear break with Brazil’s past policies of conservation. Curiously, Mr Bolsonaro is at odds with domestic public opinion; a recent poll showed that 93 per cent of Brazilians favoured preserving the Amazon.