
Brazil dismantles 'biggest destroyer' of Amazon rainforest - rblion
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-28961554
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wrongc0ntinent
Such crap. Cattle ranches are the leading cause of Amazon deforestation in
Brazil. Logging (legal and illegal) is 2-3%.

Edit: Right, here's some numbers:
[http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html](http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html)

~~~
graeme
I read the article as meaning that the gang was part of the cattle
grazing/farming industry. They burn the land, they bring in grazers, and by
the time anyone notices the grazers have "been there for a while" so it's
difficult to remove them, destroy everything, and let forest regrow.

That said, I doubt removing one gang will make much difference unless they
change the system that allows ranchers to stay on illegally burned land.

~~~
giarc
Removing one gang usually results in another gang moving in on that territory.
There's always a little guy looking for an opportunity.

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vitoreiji
It's election time in Brazil right now, and everyone is trying to look good.
This might just be our current president and candidate to reelection Dilma
Rousseff trying to win over the evironmental cause votes, which is a huge
electorate and a huge chunk of Marina Silva's electorate, who holds second
place in the current vote intention polls.

~~~
ehmuidifici
Yeah, Marina Silva is well-known on international community as a great
defender of the Amazon and North region of Brazil.

Also, these guys have a huge amount of money, so they can pay for their
freedom. Just picking the right layer and the right judge to give the 'habeas
corpus'.

Oh, sorry, I can't say that here. It's - what some folks say here - 'low self
esteem'.

~~~
superflit
You are 100% right.

Election time everyone loves the law

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asciimo
This article implies that the 28% increase in deforestation between 2012 and
2013 was due to illegal deforestation. The measured area is 1,272 km^2
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_Brazil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_Brazil)).
The criminal damages amount to $220 million, making each square kilometer
worth $172,955. I like to think in terms of acres, so dividing that number by
247 gives me the value of 1 acre of Brazilian rainforest in USD: $700.22.
Surely my math is wrong?

~~~
nknighthb
Disclosure: Your comment includes infinitely more information about the market
value of Brazilian rainforest land than I had ever possessed before this
moment.

That said, there are apparently ~3.34 million km^2 of Brazilian rainforest as
of 2013, according to that Wikipedia page.

According to this other wikipedia page[0], the total land area of the United
States, including Alaska, is about 9.6 million km^2.

So, there's a metric shitload of Brazilian rainforest. It's not exactly in
short supply, from a market standpoint. And most of it is, y'know, in the
middle of nowhere.

Add in that Brazil as a whole is of similar size to the US (8.5 million km^2),
and is still a relatively poor country, and $700/acre does not strike me as a
shocking number.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States)

~~~
marcosdumay
Oh, ok, asciimo was wondering that it's cheap... I didn't understand this from
his post.

The wood alone is probably worth more than that, but I imagine there are some
limits on how much wood a criminal group can sell before getting couch. The
Amazon Forest grows over an extremely poor ground (that's mostly the reason
it's still there); one can get some (not much) productivity from pastures on
it, but more lucrative crops just won't grow unless one corrects the soil,
what's a tremendously expensive process.

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unsquare
3 Part BBC Documentary "I Bought a Rainforest"

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0461lhs](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0461lhs)

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046td9n](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046td9n)

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047h528](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047h528)
( Farming / Burning Land )

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Aqueous
Great job by Brazilian authorities.

However, I wonder if they could come up with a more intimidating name for
their crackdown than "Operation Chestnut Tree."

~~~
bjelkeman-again
They aren't convicted yet, and if the place is as corrupt as the article says
and they have made that much money, who knows what will happen.

~~~
cfontes
"if the place is as corrupt as the article says" It is.

And also even if they are convicted they probably will not stay in prison for
long. Assuming the way those things happen now a days there.

~~~
sp332
Looks like the incumbent president is trying to get environmentalist votes. Do
you think they might be made examples of and handed harsher sentences, just to
make her look good?

Edit: I guess I'm not good at inferring gender of names :p

~~~
tokenadult
Make HER look good. (Dilma Rousseff is the incumbent President of Brazil. Her
main opponent, Marina Silva, is also a woman.)

