Corruption Drives Rainforest Loss
The world's rainforests are being lost because of human greed and deeply embedded corruption. In each of the Earth's remaining large and intact rainforest regions, it is dreadfully evident who is benefitting from illegal logging. What has been lacking is the political will to confront these rainforest liquidating spivs. Sadly, I am unable to think of a manner they are likely to ultimately be confronted and stopped, short of violence directed at them by rainforest defenders. Perhaps the time has come for armed resistance against these Earth destroying vandals? It seems most everything else has failed, and the problem of biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse from rainforest loss continues to accelerate.
Graft Driving Amazon Deforestation - Campaigners
The arrests of two top environmental officials in Brazil's Mato Grosso state in a rare police crackdown have shown that corruption in high places is feeding the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, environmentalists say. More than 90 people were arrested in the sweep launched by Federal authorities on Thursday. Nearly half were from the government's environment protection agency Ibama, including its chief for Mato Grosso.
Comments
It is clear that the world's most corrupt 'devloping' nations are also the nations with the highest overall deforestation rates and register the widest disparities between haves and have nots. Such nations are typically the ones most wracked by violence, strife and other economic and social ills. Much of the global extinction spasm can be observed here. And at the same time the governments of such nations blame the United States and other western developed nations for these same problems. Anti-Americanism is particularly acute in Brazil and other corrupt 'developing nations.'
But it is at once clear that the most corrupt nations in the world are the supposedly 'developing nations.' And that the leaders of such countries absolutely could not care less about the fate of their nations' ecosystems, the plight of their people, or an honest look at the problems they face. They will continue to blame the United States for everything no matter what. It's the easy way out. Even if their countries turn into arid wastelands.
Posted by: Louis McCarten | June 9, 2005 4:33 PM