RESTRAINTS
When I decided
to paint this theme, I was very uncomfortable with the neglect of Brazilian
Indians and the Amazon rainforest.
The Amazon
rainforest is considered the largest tropical forest in the world and
concentrates enormous biodiversity.
It corresponds
to 53% of the tropical forests that still exist. For this reason, its
conservation is debated at an international level due to its size and
ecological importance.
It occupies
about 600 million hectares, covering nine countries, more than half of which
are in Brazilian territory.
The Amazon has
several peculiarities, which differ from all others, in relation to its
extremely dense vegetation, its diverse fauna and flora or its extensive rivers,
which are extremely important for the country.
It is threatened.
The fires in the
Amazon attracted attention in August 2019, as they add up to almost 31,000
outbreaks. Uncontrolled fire in forest areas, pastures and agricultural areas,
near or far from the Amazon, is a serious problem.
There is a
direct impact on the animals' habitat and the availability of food for them.
180 species threatened with extinction were counted.
Conserving the
biome is of fundamental importance for the maintenance of biodiversity and for
the livelihood of the people who live there, from where they get food, medicine
and perpetuate their rich culture.
Brazilian
Indians have been suffering from murders, threats and invasions.
The fires are
destroying homes and destroying the food source of the indigenous people in the
forest, with increasing aggressions in the last year, which include racism,
expropriation of indigenous lands and omission by the public authorities.
Indigenous
peoples are also threatened.
