Resumen de Viewpoint: Sovereignty and reversing Brazil’s history of Amazon destruction
Stephannie Fernandes, Geraldo Wilson Fernandes, Philip Martin Fearnside
Brazilians have lived for many years under governments with discourse proclaiming the need to occupy and develop the Amazon to integrate this vast territory into the rest of the country. Increasing the region’s population, economic activity and infrastructure have been promoted to expand agricultural production and to protect Brazil's Amazonian borders and natural resources from foreign nations; but the processes of occupation and development have taken pathways with severe impacts. Infrastructure to connect to markets now facilitates the destruction of the region’s forests, and illegal activities were openly supported until recently by Jair Bolsonaro’s (2019–2022) presidential administration. Although Brazil’s sovereignty over its Amazonian territory is uncontested, today it is a space that is largely controlled by those who exploit the region’s commodities, often, ironically, led by foreign interests.
