For 50 years, Philip Fearnside has calculated the costs of losing the Amazon
At a September 2021 public hearing in Manaus, Philip Fearnside read from a prepared statement laying out his case against repaving BR-319, the highway between Manaus and Porto Velho, two cities in the Amazon. He called the project economically unviable, argued Brazil’s licensing process was broken, and warned that road would trigger “catastrophic” deforestation. People […]
For five decades, Philip Fearnside has meticulously calculated the expenses associated with losing the Amazon rainforest. On September 2021, at a public hearing in Manaus, Fearnside presented his opposition to repaving BR-319, the highway connecting Manaus and Porto Velho. He argued that the project was economically unfeasible, criticized Brazil's licensing process, and warned that the road would lead to "catastrophic" deforestation.
However, his voice was drowned out as the crowd began to boo. Fearnside, speaking in his American-accented Portuguese, attempted to continue despite technical difficulties with his microphone. Sérgio Kruke, a supporter of former president Jair Bolsonaro and a representative of the Movimento Conservador Amazonas, interrupted Fearnside.
He questioned Fearnside's right to comment on Brazil's land use and called for the Brazilians to have the freedom to cut down every tree in the forest if they so chose. The audience responded with cheers for Kruke, creating a stark contrast to the atmosphere at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) two months prior.
At INPA, researchers and former students gathered to celebrate Fearnside's 50 years of field research in the Amazon. Esteemed climate scientist Carlos Nobre recalled their collaboration in the 1970s, while researcher Susanna Hecht reminisced about their chance meeting in a Belém bar and how Fearnside had suggested Acre as a dissertation topic.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
