On one hand it's horrible that Brazil and other 3rd world countries don't stop the jungle destruction, but on the other they're just doing what Europe has already done to it's own forests, so what gives us the right to moralize... very sad situation... my view is that really the West is the one that can stop it, by investing and insisting on green industries, and not doing any business with those that endanger rain forests. It's all about the money in the end, so if Brazil (and people in power) can make a lot more money from preserving rainforest than from cutting them, then lots of people in power will be incentivized to protect them. Otherwise, as any politicians, they'll try to please their voters and sponsors first.
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This!
Perfect. The glorious agrobusiness keeps boasting how great they are to Brazilian economy. Well, for more of the usual (huge inequity, deforestation, the largest use of agrotoxics in the world and everything on the package - terrible education, almost exclusively extractive economy, a militar police that ranks among the most lethal in the world...), yes, that's the way.
Yes, and they get rich by exporting those goods.. to West, among others... same thing as poachers in Africa don't sell ivory to Africans, they sell it to the West and Asia...
Not completely true, Scandinavian and Baltic countries have more forest than Brazil compared to their area. Mediterranean countries have less but started with less as well. Also forest have been growing for a long time in Europe, while they are still going down steeply in Brazil. Some Other developing countries such as China also now have growing forests.
There's a lot more landmass in Europe than Scandinavia and Mediterranean, and it was all once covered in deep forests. Even many Mediterranean countries used to have thick forests. Montenegro (meaning black mountains) got its name because of dark pine forests covering all the mountains. Those forests were for centuries cut down by Venetians who ruled the Adriatic shore, and then rains washed away all the soil - and now Montenegro is anything but black, all you see is the whiteness of rocks (deeper in land they still have a lot of beautiful nature and forests preserved, thanks mainly to the fact that it was hard to reach terrain).
Even the most developed countries are very much quilty of the same. Just a week ago we had a thread about deforestation of the Pacific temperate rainforests.
