2022 Year in Review

communities' livelihood, is
being destroyed by illegal
miners who use mercury to
separate the gold from grit.
Activists say that this
mercury poisons the water
and food chains by leaking
into rivers and can harm
organs and the
development of children
who consume it. The
number and activities of
these 'Garimpeiros'
increased in 2022 and
throughout Bolsonaro's
administration, which had
vowed to support and
develop the Amazon economy and
exploit the forest's mineral resources.
This increase in illegal human
destruction and Bolsonaro's inaction
and ignorance saw frantic
deforestation occurring before the
Brazilian election and then again
during the current government
transition. President Lula da Silva, who
takes office on January 1, 2023,
pledges to undo environmental
degradation and fight for 0
deforestation in the Amazon. Lula will
provide further funding to state
agencies to increase environmental
safeguards and protections for the
Amazon. The Amazon and the world
are in
P H O T O : M A R T I N S C H O E L L E R / N A T I O N A L
G E O G R A P H I C
desperate need of these promises
being actioned.
THE DESTRUCTION OF LOST
AMAZON CIVILISATION
ARCHEOLOGY
Another effect of illegal logging and
deforestation, apart from the severe
environmental concerns and the risk
of losing the traditions and cultures of
once isolated indigenous tribes, is the
destruction of antique remains buried
in the forest. Unchecked cutting down
of trees in Bolivia's Beni is destroying
evidence of the lost Amazon
civilisation that used to live there. Pre-
Colombian peoples lived in Bolivia's
Amazon region, whose bones and
ceramic remains are being destroyed
by unchecked logging.
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