5 Petitions You Can Sign to Protect the Amazon
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Petitions are a way of enacting systemic change. They are a peaceful and important way to show our leaders and representatives what we care about and what we want them to fight for on our behalf. Your decision to sign a petition allows you to be part of the process of change and adds legitimacy to every campaign you choose to put your name to. Going one step further, and sharing a petition, allows your community to learn about your values, spreads awareness for a cause, and furthers the message of a petition.
For context, Since Jair Bolsonaro came into Brazilian Presidency in 2018, deforestation has increased by up to 85% (according to some reports). The dismantling of protective policies under Bolsonaro’s leadership is a key contributor to increased deforestation. While deforestation is caused by logging, it is also caused by forest fires. Amazonia does experience natural forest fires, and it is ‘normal’ for fires to occur during the dry season of August and October. However, forest fires are also a man-made land clearing tactic, used to remove forest and make space for soy and beef farms. During the dry season, it is easier for land clearing fires to spread and become out of control.
These fires are increasing carbon dioxide and reducing oxygen inputs to our atmosphere, increasing the risk of biodiversity loss, and displacing indigenous communities.Protecting forests is crucial to decreasing the risks of climate crisis. To help protect the Amazon, it’s indigenous communities and biodiversity, here are 5 petitions you can sign.
1. Stop the Burning of the Amazon Rainforest — Change.Org
A Brazilian lawyer, Gabriel Santos, started this petition to ask authorities to set-up an inquiry to officially “investigate what is leading to the increase in fires” and “hold the culprits to account.”
2. Stop the Assault on Earths Green Lung — Rainforest-Rescue.Org
The destruction of the Amazon is placing indigenous communities at risk, in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and other neighboring countries. This petitions, to the UN and South American governments, allows you to add your voice to the indigenous peoples’ appeal to stop the destruction of the largest and most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet.
3. A Cry for Help from the Amazon Rainforest — Rainforest-Rescue.Org
This petition is directed to the Brazilian President and ministers to protect the indigenous Paiter Surui people. They are being pushed from their home by illegal loggers and miners, who are felling trees, poisoning rivers, and threatening indigenous people gunpoint.
4. Stop the Assult on the Amazon Rainforest — Rainforest-Rescue.Org
A petition to the Brazilian Government and Chambers of Congress to scrap the pending legislation that dismantles the protection of ancestral territories from deforestation and plunder.
5. Save the Amazon and Stand with the Guardians of the Forest — Greenpeace.Org
Greenpeace is calling for Bolsonaro’s government to save the Amazon Rainforest and protect the lands of Indigenous and traditional communities.
Four days after the smoke from forest fires eclipsed San Paulo, Bolsonaro finally authorized military operations to contain fires, in response to the global outcry. This shows that international pressure works. By signing these petitions, you are adding your voice to thousands of other voices who have called for further action. You are helping to accumulate further pressure on different agencies and leaders for increased responsibility and action.
Originally published at https://lwpb.net on August 25, 2019.
