2019 was a year of environmental tragedies in Brazil

The rupture of a Vale dam in Brumadinho (MG), deforestation and burning in the Amazon, and the dumping of oil on Brazilian beaches summed to the unfortunate and terrible statements of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, and the environment minister, Ricardo Salles, contributed to the aggravation of the crises.

In January, the rupture of the Vale dam at the Corrégo do Feijão in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, shocked Brazil and the world. To date, more than 260 deaths of employees of Samarco (a joint-venture between the Brazilian Vale and the English-Australian BHP, each one holding 50% of the company's stocks) and residents of the region have been confirmed. There are people that are still missing. For Greenpeace, what happened in Brumadinho was a "crime".

According to Greenpeace, "cases such as this, which may become more frequent with the easing of environmental licensing, cannot be considered accidents, but social and environmental crimes arising from greed and neglect."

Samarco itself is linked to the largest environmental disaster ever recorded in Brazil. The Mariana dam rupture in Minas Gerais killed 19 people and dumped tons of tailings polluting and destroying the Rio Doce basin and devastating the fauna and flora of the region. In the affected Rio Doce region, approximately 3.2 million people live.

According to the Repérter Brasil website, the Amazon burnings in 2019 were more frequently detected in cattle-producing regions near refrigerators than in the rest of the forest.

In 2019, the burning in the Amazon almost tripled and surpassed the historical average. Within 12 months from August 31, 2018, until August 31, 2019, 30,901 fire outbreaks were recorded compared to 10,421 fire outbreaks for the same period between 2017 and 2018, which corresponds to a 196% increase.

The disaster caused by the oil spill that hit the beaches of the Northeast and part of Southeast Brazil is still unsolved. More than 800 sites have already been hit by oil slicks on the coast. Three months after the appearance of the first spots, the origin of the oil is unknown, and no one has been indicted.