Populist authoritarian neoliberalism in Brazil: making sense of Bolsonaro's anti-environment agenda

Due to habitat fragmentation, Brazil's Atlantic Forest is considered one of the world's most threatened biodiversity hotspots. Much of the biome has become extinct of its largest-bodied mammals,leading some to refer it as a 'half-empty forest.' One of the ways conservation actors are responding to this crisis is by utilizing Global Positioning System(GPS), camera trapping, and remote sensing satellite imagery. Together, these tools enable the collection of data at unprecedent levels. By intensifying wildlife monitoring, it is thought that better-directed actions can be taken to avoid species extinction. Although there is a nascent body of research in political ecology examining the role of these new technologies in conservation,so far there has been little exploration of what this implies for the transformation of the governance of conservation spaces. Bringing together literatures on biopolitics of conservation and conservation technologies, this article reflects on the ways new technologies are changing the biopolitical governance of conservation in the Atlantic Forest. I argue that the increase of information flows, together with the ability to process data through models and algorithms, intensifies the capability of biopolitical governance to justify claims for new protected areas, while changing ecological subjectivities. With the increased use of remote sensing technologies, some ecologists are being distanced from the field, and are consequently having less interactions with rural communities. As pressures on biodiversity increase, this may facilitate advocacy for coercive conservation measures that have adverse impacts on local communities.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring extinction: defaunation, technology and the biopolitics of conservation in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

Kiggell

2021

“…More generally, as Deutsch (2021) highlights, the links between extinction and contemporary politics of authoritarianism need urgent further investigation. 3 Clearly, this is a broader issue that intersects with many of the aforementioned topics and is already an important subject within political ecology (Neimark et al, 2019).…”

Section: Political Ecologies Of Extinction In Times Of Exception and ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sierra Deutsch (2021) takes us to Brazil, arguably the most biodiverse country in the world as well as a key battleground in the global extinction crisis, to explain how environmental protection is impacted by contemporary Brazilian politics and political economy. Situated within a broader analysis of neoliberal authoritarianism, she focuses on Jair Bolsonaro's regime and how it has been undermining and dismantling environmental protection since he came to power in 2018.…”

Section: The Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political ecologies of extinction: from endpoint to inflection-point. Introduction to the Special Section

Büscher¹

2022

Amidst the many socio-ecological crises facing the world today, the biodiversity crisis is considered one of the most foundational. According to scientists, we have entered yet another mass extinction event in the history of the planet, though the first triggered by the impacts of the combined, uneven actions of one species. This introductory paper to a Special Section on the "Political ecologies of extinction" frames this crisis through political ecology, and explores what political ecologies of extinction could look like and focus on in the 21st century. Building on emerging literatures and the author contributions, it agrees that extinction is much more than the endpoint of a long and rocky road of the decline of a species. It is an uneven, historical process that conjoins political, geographical, socio-ecological, and other factors. Most of all, a political ecology of extinction highlights the intertwined forces of political economy, power and ecology whereby I argue that a special focus should be on how biological diversity and our understanding of it has changed over time, especially the last two centuries. The capitalist intensification of pressures on biological diversity combined with changing perceptions of the value of diversity during this time have led to a moment where extinction decisively moves from a biological endpoint to a political inflection-point. How to relate these two 'points' to historical and contemporary, local and global forces of political economy and power is central to political ecologies of extinction, as exemplified by the articles in this Special Section. This introductory article lays out their core themes, and derives from them further pointers and questions for developing this field.

“…There was an atmosphere of fearfulness, and concerns that the seminar could be shut down at any moment (even though it had not been publicized). Participants noted the widespread rhetoric of violence incited and legitimized by President Bolsonaro (Rodrigues, 2020;Deutsch, 2021;Deutsch & Fletcher, 2022). There were at least 115 community leaders of the Tapajós (defenders), who were startled and distressed by the political climate.…”

Section: Activities/sectors and The Intensification Of Defender Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental defenders suffering death threats and "under protection" in the state of Pará, Eastern Amazonia, Brazil

Rodrigues

Campos

Santana

2022

Latin America has a long history of extractive and exploitative territorial activities, dating back to the colonial era. However, in the last decade there has been a steep increase in these activities, and in socio-environmental conflicts, in Latin America. There are indications of the links between the exploitation of natural resources and the violation of human rights, which materializes in the Amazon through the increase of expulsions and evictions of families, assassination attempts, murders, illegal imprisonments, intimidation, and threats. The main targets of these crimes are leaders who head the struggle to defend the rights of collectivities to land and territory, the environment, human rights and their multiple cultural and life expressions. The state of Pará (Eastern Amazonia) has appeared in the last decade as one of the states in Brazil with the highest incidence of cases of land conflicts, assassinations, aggression, defamation, and death threats directed against community leaders and environmental defenders. Thus, this article aims to quantify, characterize and reflect on the environmental defenders and community leaders suffering death threats and under legal protection in the state of Pará, Eastern Amazonia (between 2014 and 2020). It also seeks to identify the main activities and sectors that threaten these groups and the reasons behind the intensification of threats in recent years.