The Amacro region (named after three Amazonian states: Acre, Amazonas, and Rondônia) has become the latest deforestation frontier in the world's largest tropical forest. The data is alarming. In the municipality of Lábrea, Amazonas, the cattle herd increased from 28,000 heads in 2017 to 328,000 in 2021. During the same period, in Porto Velho, the capital of Rondônia and the largest cattle producer in Amacro, the herd grew from 416,000 heads to 1.3 million.
However, what few know is that this deforestation is a consequence of political and economic maneuvering during the tenure of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. In 2019, the president collaborated with governors, mayors, and organizations like Embrapa, officially launching the Abunã-Madeira Sustainable Development Zone in 2021. The premise was to establish an "economic development" program for the region, but what we see is an advance in deforestation. According to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the region accounted for 36% of all deforestation in Legal Amazon in 2022.
This reporting project aims to investigate who or what is behind the deforestation in this region, and seeks to raise awareness among the Brazilian population and the international community about the new fronts of destruction in the Amazon.