Date: 4th December
Hour: 3 p.m.
Venue: Abreu Faro amphitheatre, Interdisciplinary Building

«Ricardo Galvão will deliver the IST Distinguished Lecture “Current Brazilian Environmental Policy for the Amazon Rainforest”, on 4th December 2023, organised by the Department of Physics and by the Environmental Sciences and Engineering Platform at Instituto Superior Técnico.»

Abstract:
Since the late 1980s, Brazil has played a leading role in climate change and the fight against environmental degradation. A paradigmatic example of this state policy is the National Institute for Space Research’s PRODES project, which monitors deforestation in Amazon rainforests by satellite, providing the corresponding annual rates since 1988. Its data is internationally considered among the best time series for monitoring deforestation in tropical forests. Unfortunately, during the period from 2019 to 2022, the Federal Government adopted a negative policy concerning global warming and environmental preservation, stimulating deforestation in the Amazon, which grew from 5,078 square kilometers in 2018 to 10,573 square kilometers in 2022. This increase in deforestation has turned much of the Amazon rainforest from an absorber to an emitter of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This predatory policy was fortunately reversed with the appointment of the new government in January 2023. Between January and August this year, there was a reduction of around 48 percent in deforestation in the Legal Amazon, compared to the same period last year. In this colloquium will be presented the different actions of the present government concerning sustainable development and fighting environmental degradation in Brazil, including encouraging scientific projects aimed at these topics.