Amazon deforestation(DESMATAMENTO): Record high destruction of trees in

January

 Climate change

IImage caption,
Deforestation usually slows down in January because the rainy season
prevents loggers accessing the forest.

The number of trees cut down in the Brazilian Amazon in January far exceeded()
deforestation for the same month last year, according to government satellite data.
..
The area destroyed was five times larger than 2021, the highest January total
since records began in 2015.

Environmentalists accuse Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro of allowing

deforestation to accelerate.

Protecting the Amazon is essential if we are to tackle climate change.

Trees are felled(DERRUBADAS) for their wood as well as to clear spaces to
plant crops to supply(SUPRIR) global food companies.

At the climate change summit COP26 in Glasgow last year, more than 100
governments promised to stop and reverse deforestation by 2030.

The latest satellite data from Brazil's space agency Inpe again calls into
question the Brazilian government's commitment to protecting its huge
rainforest, say environmentalists.

"The new data yet again exposes how the government's actions contradict its
greenwashing campaigns," explains Cristiane Mazzetti of Greenpeace Brazil.
Greenpeace are calling on supermarkets in the UK and elsewhere to drop
suppliers who are involved in deforestation from their meat and dairy supply
chains suppliers.

Deforestation totalled 430 square kilometres (166 square miles) in January - an

area more than seven times the size of Manhattan, New York.

Felling large numbers of trees at the start of the year is unusual because the
rainy season usually stops loggers from accessing dense forest.

Brazil's vast rainforest absorbs huge amounts of greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere, acting as what's known as a carbon sink. But the more trees cut
down, the less the forest can soak up emissions.

A logger, an environmental policeman, a cattle rancher and an environmentalist

share their views on Amazon's future

But the area is also home to communities who say they need to use the forest
for mining and commercial farming in order to make a living.

At the same time, indigenous communities living in the Amazon fight to protect
the rainforest and their ways of life.

Mr Bolsonaro has weakened environmental protections for the region and

argued that the government should exploit the area to reduce poverty.

There are a number of factors driving this level of deforestation.

Strong global demand for agricultural commodities such as beef and soya
beans is fuelling some of these illegal clearances - Another is the expectation
that a new law will soon be passed in Brazil to legitimise and forgive land
grabbing.

The Brazilian government argues that in the period between August last year
and January 2022, overall deforestation was lower compared to the same
period twelve months ago.

Environmentalists say that they are not surprised by the record January felling,
given that President Bolsonaro has significantly weakened legal protections
since he took office in 2019.

At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, Mr Bolsonaro was one of
the world leaders who promised to halt and reverse deforestation by the end of
this decade.

Political observers argue that despite this change in tone, the policies on the
ground remain the same.

---------------------------------------------------BIZUÁRIO DE PALAVRAS
------------------------------------------
Caption Loggers accessing Environmentalists allowing tackle felled

crops (CULTURAS)

supply(ABASTECIMENTO)

summit (CUME)

latest (MAIS RECENTE)

commitment (COMPROMISSO)

huge(ENORME)

rainforest(FLORESTA) CULTURAS / ABASTECIMENTO / NOT FOUND / MAIS

RECENTE / COMPROMISSO / ENORME

new data(NOVOS DADOS, INFORMAÇÕES)

greenwashing(SENTIDO DE CAMUFLAR, MENTIR OU OMITIR/ FALSA

SUSTENTABILIDADE)

elsewhere(EM OUTRO LUGAR, EM OUTRA PARTE, EM OUTRO LADO)

drop

suppliers

dairy

chains (CADEIAS)
Sink(AFUNDAR)
soak up(ABSORVER)
cattle(GADO)
rancher (RANCHEIRO)
mining (MINERAÇÃO)
exploit (EXPLORAR)
poverty(POBREZA)
fuelling(FORNECER COMBUSTÍVEL, ALIMENTAR)
clearances (FOLGAS)
land grabbing(GRILAGEM DE TERRAS)
(ACESSANDO) TÍTULO / MADEIREIRO / ACESSANDO / AMBIENTALISTAS /
PERMITIR / ENFRENTAR / DERRUBADAS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pharmaceuticals in rivers threaten world health - study

By Jonah Fisher
BBC Environment Correspondent
Image source, Dr John Wilkinson
Image caption,
The Blue River in Tunis has one of the highest pharmaceutical concentrations, the study
shows.

Pollution of the world's rivers from medicines and pharmaceutical products poses
a "threat to environmental and global health", a report says.

Paracetamol, nicotine, caffeine and epilepsy and diabetes drugs were widely detected in
a University of York study.

The research is among the most extensive undertaken on a global scale.

Rivers in Pakistan, Bolivia and Ethiopia were among the most polluted. Rivers in
Iceland, Norway and the Amazon rainforest fared the best.

The impact of many of the most common pharmaceutical compounds in rivers is still
largely unknown.

But it is already well established that dissolved human contraceptives can impact the
development and reproduction of fish, and scientists fear the increased presence of
antibiotics in rivers could limit their effectiveness as medicines.
Image source, Dr John Wilkinson
Image caption,
This section of the Nam Khan river in Laos generally has low concentrations of
pharmaceuticals

The study sampled water from more than 1,000 test sites in more than 100 countries.

Overall, more than a quarter of the 258 rivers sampled had what are known as "active
pharmaceutical ingredients" present at a level deemed unsafe for aquatic organisms.

"Typically, what happens is, we take these chemicals, they have some desired effects on
us and then they leave our bodies," Dr John Wilkinson, who led the research, told BBC
News.

"What we know now is that even the most modern efficient wastewater treatment plants
aren't completely capable of degrading these compounds before they end up in rivers or
lakes."

The two most frequently detected pharmaceuticals were carbamazepine, which is used
to treat epilepsy and nerve pain, and metformin, used to treat diabetes.

High concentrations were also found of so-called "lifestyle consumables" like caffeine
[coffee] and nicotine [cigarettes] as well as the painkiller paracetamol.

In Africa, artemisinin - used in anti-malarial medicine - was also found in high

concentrations.

"We can say [the impact of the presence of such pharmaceuticals in rivers] is likely to
be negative but you have to do individual tests with each one and there are relatively
few studies," Dr Veronica Edmonds-Brown, an aquatic ecologist from the UK's
University of Hertfordshire told BBC News.
"This is only going to get worse as we are increasingly using pharmacological solutions
to any illness whether physical or mental."

The report says the increased presence of antibiotics in rivers could also lead to the
development of resistant bacteria, damaging the effectiveness of medicines and
ultimately posing "a global threat to environmental and global health".

The most polluted sites were largely in low- to middle-income countries, and in areas
where there was sewage dumping, poor wastewater management and pharmaceutical
manufacturing.

Image source, Dr John Wilkinson

Image caption,
The Nairobi River in Kenya - among the world's waterways most contaminated by
pharmaceuticals

"We have seen contaminated rivers in Nigeria and in South Africa with very high
concentrations of pharmaceuticals and this is basically down to the lack of infrastructure
in wastewater treatment," said Dr Mohamed Abdallah, associate professor of emerging
contaminants at the UK's Birmingham University.

"This is most concerning because you have the most vulnerable populations with the
least access to healthcare exposed to this."

On the question of what can be done, the lead author of the report, Dr Wilkinson, has a
somewhat depressing outlook.

"It's going to take many people who are a lot smarter than me to tackle the problem," he
said. "One of the few things that could have an effect right now is the proper use of
medicines."
That would mean making it harder to get hold of medicines like antibiotics, and tighter
restrictions on doses.

The full report has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences journal.

-----------------------------------------------Bizuário-----------------------------------------------
Threaten poses threat widely among undertaken fared already

development increased sampled water Overall deemed unsafe

Typically desired effects led wastewater treatment degrading

end up nerve pain metformin so-called consumables painkiller

Hertfordshire illness physical mental Damaging ultimately

Posing low middle income sewage dumping lack emerging

concerning healthcare Somewhat depressing outlook tighter