International
‘We can’t live in a world without the Amazon’: scientist
AFP
Erika Berenguer, an Amazon ecologist at Oxford and Lancaster universities, is one of the most prominent scientists studying how the rainforest functions when humans throw it off balance.
AFP asked the 38-year-old Brazilian to break down the latest research on the Amazon and what it means for us all.
– There are lots of headlines on the destruction of the Amazon. What does the science say? –
“The results are truly horrifying. They are in line with discussions about the ‘tipping point’ (at which the rainforest would die off and turn from carbon absorber to carbon emitter).
“One study found that in the southeast of the Amazon in the dry season, the temperature has increased by 2.5 degrees Celsius (over the past 40 years). That is truly apocalyptic.
“I don’t think even academics were prepared for that. The Paris deal is trying to limit the world to 1.5 degrees; 2.5 in the Amazon is huge.
“And in the northeast Amazon, we’ve seen a decrease of 34 percent in precipitation in peak dry season (from August to October).
“The implication of all this is that if you have a hotter and dryer climate, fires are just going to escape more into the forest. So it gets into this feedback loop, this vicious cycle of horror.”
– Can we still save the Amazon? What happens if we don’t? –
“That’s the million-dollar question. We’ll never know the tipping point until we’re past it. That’s the definition of a tipping point. But different parts of the Amazon are speeding up toward it at different paces.
“If we pass the tipping point, it’s the end. And I don’t say that lightly. We’re talking about the most biodiverse place on the planet collapsing.
“Millions and millions of people becoming climate refugees. Rainfall patterns being disrupted across South America.
“Without rainfall, we don’t have hydroelectricity, so it means the collapse of industry in Brazil, and therefore the collapse of one of the largest economies in the world, of one of the biggest food suppliers in the world.
“We cannot live in a world without the Amazon.”
– Your WhatsApp profile picture has the word ‘hope’ written in big letters. What keeps you hopeful for the Amazon? –
“Chocolate (laughs).
“But really, there is definitely hope for change. Within my lifetime, I saw a decrease of more than 80 percent in deforestation, between 2004 and 2012. It wasn’t easy.
“You require coordination between several (government) agencies. But they did it. So why can’t we see it again?
“Globally, there are several levels of solutions for everyone in the world. Everybody has to reduce their carbon footprint. Nobody’s going to go back to living in a cave, but we all need to have a deep reflection on what we can do.
“We also need to pressure for transparency on commodities that come from Amazonia. Know where your gold is coming from, know where your beef is coming from.
“But most importantly, we need to insist on structural changes. We need to pressure our governments and corporations to cut emissions.”
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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