In an interview with ISPN, Sérgio Sauer, PhD in Sociology, and Marcos Buckeridge, PhD in Biological and Molecular Sciences, express concern about the increase in deforestation in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship to health crises. They warn of the urgency of conserving biodiversity, as it may hold the answers and alternatives needed to overcome crises such as the one triggered by the coronavirus.
The researchers also state that to fully emerge from the current crisis, we need to envision and plan a future different from the one we were experiencing. Finally, the scientists discuss measures that could further deepen the crisis we are going through, such as Provisional Measure 910, and point to the need for broad and in-depth discussion, especially scientific discussion, about decisions that affect all Brazilians and could have disastrous consequences.
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ISPN: Is it possible to establish a link between deforestation and the health crisis we are experiencing?
Marcos Buckeridge: Deforestation is causing us to lose opportunities to find remedies that could help in the COVID-19 pandemic. For years, researchers throughout Brazil have been working to find useful substances in our biodiversity to cure diseases. A good number of compounds have been discovered and tested. We have the means to rapidly test thousands of substances and even extracts from different plants, animals, and microorganisms. We are testing several of them against COVID-19. Deforestation in Brazil, which has accelerated during the pandemic, is destroying the possibilities of combating not only the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, but also other viruses and bacteria that cause diseases in humans, plants, and animals. The destruction of biodiversity is a crime against humanity. Brazil has an enormous responsibility as the holder of more than 20% of the world's biodiversity. After the pandemic passes – and it will pass – we should think about how to use our riches to make Brazil a just and thriving country. If we think about the future, biodiversity will be the greatest wealth a country can have. With deforestation, we are burning our greatest treasure.
Sergio Sauer: Much still needs to be studied and researched about the causes and dynamics of the coronavirus. However, studies and experiences related to other diseases have already established close connections between the destruction of nature and health crises. In recent years, diseases have reappeared as a consequence of water contamination, deforestation, increased sewage, or lack of basic sanitation. Despite this, we are witnessing a process of budget cuts for the responsible agencies, and government guidelines are loosening oversight, leading to an increase in deforestation. Deforesters are not in quarantine! According to official data, deforestation rates in the Amazon have doubled compared to March 2019. Maintaining his denialist stance, the Minister of the Environment downplayed the data, emphasizing that the numbers are only indicative. The preservation of life in times of pandemic should be the central concern, but we need to think about the aftermath: resuming planning and care to re-establish processes and mechanisms for controlling and monitoring deforestation.
ISPN: How can we consider the importance of environmental conservation and the protection of biomes in addressing this crisis?
MB: We can look at the enormous biodiversity we have in the Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado, the Amazon, and various other Brazilian biomes and consider that, if we had given more attention and support to research and environmental conservation, we could have a much larger list of substances against COVID-19. We must become a nation that sets the agenda for the future. The sustainable use of biodiversity is one of the crucial points for the biotechnology of the future. Developed countries have understood their past mistakes. Brazil can seize this opportunity and not destroy its biodiversity. Our immediate, indifferent, and, more recently, anti-science culture is the reason we lack the necessary information to use our biodiversity. We pay for scientific blindness. We could have discovered mechanisms in animals that are resistant to the coronavirus. We could have thousands of substances with determined chemical structures and, with this, seek which ones would be the most suitable for now.
SS: The pandemic, a very serious and unprecedented situation, is happening now. However, it is necessary to think and plan for the future. This is both to prevent new diseases and to rethink the lives of the population in better conditions. Our desires and struggles should not simply be to 'return to normal,' because 'normal' in Brazil is a profoundly unjust and unequal society! We don't want to return to normal; we want to return to a just society, less unequal and more environmentally responsible! The environmental conservation of the Amazon and the Cerrado, therefore, has this 'future' perspective. Not only for future generations, but for the current generation, and in better post-pandemic conditions. Much remains to be done to fulfill the 'constitutional promise' of the right to a healthy environment for all people!
ISPN: What can the biodiversity of the Cerrado and other biomes offer within these research projects?
MB: Many plants in the Cerrado biome have an enormous capacity for producing chemical compounds. Many of them could, today, be used as phytotherapeutic agents to alleviate the effects of COVID-19 or as a basis for rapidly designing new drugs that would help to more strongly interfere with the process of the virus entering cells. Another issue concerns animals. When we give our dogs V10 vaccines, there is a vaccine for a type of coronavirus. It's not the same one that is attacking us now, but it's from the same group. This means that the mechanism of the virus entering canine cells could be similar to the mechanism of entry of SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID-19). There are probably similar viruses in animals from the Cerrado, the Atlantic Forest, and the Amazon. These are just two aspects. There are certainly countless others that could help in the current pandemic and new diseases we will face.
ISPN: There has also been discussion about the issue of food security as a way to contribute to overcoming the pandemic. How should we view this aspect?
SS: I mentioned the relationship between disease and deforestation, but we must add: deforestation-pesticides-disease. The expansion of the agricultural frontier into the Amazon and Cerrado carries a 'package of problems' such as the excessive use of pesticides, with serious consequences for our health. Conserving biomes means rethinking production methods. The pandemic has once again raised the problem of food insecurity in Brazil and the world. This insecurity is not only due to the possible lack of food, but also to the type of food we are consuming. There is a global food standardization – two or three grains are the basis of the diet for most of the population, which raises serious questions about food [and nutritional] security – and a dangerous increase in the use of pesticides. These agricultural practices, and consequently food practices, are the central motivation for deforestation. Defending the conservation of biomes raises the need to consider the health of people and the environment!
ISPN: Given the above, how do you assess the progress in Congress of measures such as Provisional Measure 910? Known as the Land Grabbing MP?
MB: The question is: What does science say? There is a very capable and experienced scientific community in Brazil, both in...
Regarding agribusiness issues, such as environmental ones, decisions should be guided not by opinions, but by directions based on scientific knowledge. Our parliament wants to take advantage of the smokescreen provided by the pandemic events to vote on a law that should be discussed in a different way. A large number of scientists from both areas should be consulted. For such an important topic, there should be a broad scientific debate, producing impact reports and future scenarios. It is on this basis that politicians should make decisions for the country. All Brazilians will be affected by these decisions. And the rule is: bad decisions lead to disastrous consequences.
SS: Since the issuance of Provisional Measure 910 [December 20190], we have been under threat of further relaxation of environmental regulations. The measure facilitates the legalization or titling of irregularly occupied land areas. Among the facilitations is the loosening of the so-called 'conditions,' which includes environmental conservation rules. With isolation, the capacity for intervention – whether from the opposition or civil society – has diminished. It is a "land grabbing Provisional Measure" because it expanded the possibility of titling occupations up to 2.500 hectares throughout Brazil. It also extended the deadline: irregular occupations up to 2014 can be regularized. Therefore, it is false that "smallholders have been living and working on the land for decades," as the Provisional Measure was designed for large-scale invasions. Associated with the expansion and relaxation is deforestation, which proves land occupation. The approval of Provisional Measure 910 is yet another incentive for deforestation, which is connected to the health crises.
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Marcos Buckeridge holds a PhD in Biological and Molecular Sciences, is the director of the Institute of Biosciences at USP (University of São Paulo), and a member of the Institute for Advanced Studies at USP, where he created and coordinates the USP-Global Cities program. He was President of the Association of Students and Researchers in Great Britain (1993 and 1994) and President of the Botanical Society of São Paulo for two terms (2001 to 2005). Between 2015 and 2019, Buckeridge was president of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo.
Sérgio Sauer holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Brasília (2002) and is a professor at UnB, in the Faculty of Planaltina (FUP) and in the Postgraduate Programs in Environment and Rural Development (PPG-Mader) and Sustainability with Traditional Peoples and Lands (MESPT/CDS).