Brazil Fires email by Hugo Fernando Maia Milan

I just wrote a post about it (inobio-manera.fcav.unesp.br/index.php/2019/08/28/...). I am including it here with more details. Hope it helps!

I am originally from the Amazon rainforest region (I grew up in the state of Rondônia). Brazilians strongly believe we should preserve the forest but, at the same time, bring economic development.

Before I dive-in into this discussion, I would like to clarify some common misconceptions:

a) I agree with Dallas Weaver, most of the O2 produced by the Amazon rainforest is consumed by the forest itself, as demonstrated by previous research (https://www.nature.com/articles/35002062, https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12957). The liquid amount of O2 production from the Amazon rainforestis almost zero. We should revise the common misconception that the Amazon is the lung of the world. The main source of global liquid O2 are the blue algae in the ocean, which might be strongly affected by the radioactive waste (mostly from Nuclear Power Plants) dumped in the oceans by developed countries in the period from 1946 to 1993 (http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/jones-a2/).

b) I agree with Olger Linares. Most developed countries, which had almost completely deforested their territory, focus on slowing down developing countries. Instead of taking more impactful initiatives, such as reforesting their territory or fostering sustainable development, they invest on promoting farming in their countries and on fighting against any development of the developing countries. For instance, see the campaign "Farms here, forest there" (http://assets.usw.org/our-union/pulp-paper-forestry/farms-here-forests-there-report-5-26-10.pdf) supported by the American National Farmers Union.

c) As I discuss below, the Federal Government has strict laws regarding the protection of the ALL Brazilian forests. Burning is illegal in Brazil since 1998 (law 9.605/1998). In addition, President Jair Bolsonaro is doing everything under his power to protect the forest, even sending military forces to fight against illegal burning of the forest and to fight wildfires. This is the first year of his term and he is the ONLY president who demonstrated attitude towards sustainable developing the Amazon region and in protecting the forest. One curious fact is that several NGOs are seen in the Amazon rainforest region. In this region, people live sustainable with a strong connection with the forest. Curious enough is why we see so much NGOs in such an region with so much natural richness and not in the poorest Northeastern parts of Brazil. The Northeastern is marked by strong droughts but with rich underground water vessels. The potential impact of the NGOs on reducing inequality and improving life quality in the Northeastern is huge.

d) What we see are wildfires or small illegal fires. In total, the burning was estimated to be around 200 km2 (a 0.0036% of the total 5,500,000 km2 of Amazon rainforest region; brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2019/08/23/politica/..., en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest). 

The huge increase in fire we see in the media is on the number of fires, not in the burned area. In comparison, in 2018, the wildfire in California (which accounted for 21% of all territory burned in the United States; www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...) was ~40 times bigger (7664 km2; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_California_wildfires) and burned 5.74% of the California Forest (133,546 km2, roughly 2.4% of the size of the Amazon rainforest region; ucanr.edu/sites/forestry/California_forests). 

Referendum on the creation of a Police Force

Yesterday I wrote a "Proposal: Conduct a referendum of Venezuelans abroad to indicate whether they support the creation of a police force and call for international assistance invoking the TIAR." Then sent it to a few friends to see if they liked it. The first answer I received is copied below: 

Fernando,

Proposing the referendum to see if Venezuelan exiles want to support creating a police force is a good initiative, but…  Venezuelans want high level jobs ...  that cause is lost, because the politicians and citizens want jobs.  

Look, between January and May I was working full on the country's recovery program and more than half of the time was spent listening to how the "experts" created arguments to justify being given the X or Y position. 

Some shamelessly told me to put them in a position such that they could create a service company and from that position give them contracts and then leave.  These were not chavistas, they were fuck ex-PDVSA employees! 

Also when I raised the need to create an armed force in exile and prepare us to recover the country, no one responded, all of them want Trump to send troops, pay with US dead, free the country, and give them to them so that they can share all the important jobs.  They tell me that they are non-military and that they are more valuable thinking about the recovery… 

Anyway, in my opinion, based on the stupidities I see, Venezuela is going to reach a point of co-habitation where the Chavistas continue  to hold power and the opposition will have one or another position.  

And US sanctions are going to stay there, because the USA wants to neutralize a competitor in the commodities market. I personally thank you for your concern for Venezuela, but that country has people who are comfortable in this terrible conditions and will not react!

 A hug!