Brazil dismantles criminal group responsible for Amazon rainforest destruction

[smurfy]

[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77206000/jpg/_77206365_abaa3c1c-2d0f-41c4-b132-590510278f5b.jpg[/img]

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-28961554[/url]
[quote]The authorities in Brazil say they have dismantled a criminal organisation they believe was the "biggest destroyer" of the Amazon rainforest.

The gang is accused of invading, logging and burning large areas of public land and selling these illegally for farming and grazing.

In a statement, Brazilian Federal Police said the group committed crimes worth more than $220m (£134m).

A federal judge has issued 14 arrest warrants for alleged gang members.

Twenty-two search warrants were also issued and four suspects are being called in for questioning.

The police operation covers four Brazilian states, including Sao Paulo.

Five men and a woman have already been arrested in Para state in the north of the country, Globo news reported.[/quote]

[Lium]

Send them down forever.

[splenda]

From an environmentalist's standpoint, destroying the rainforests is one of the worst crimes that can be committed.

[JennyC6]

Good riddance. We need the oxygen those trees produce and the CO2 they scrub out to produce it.

[ZpankR]

Force them to replant trees until the day they die

[Cutthecrap]

[QUOTE=splenda;45826105]From an environmentalist's standpoint, destroying the rainforests is one of the worst crimes that can be committed.[/QUOTE]

Not only from an environmentalist standpoint, but even from a capitalist and utilitarian one.

If we take into account the utility that nature can bring in the long term, because, let's face it, new uses and discoveries are made each day for mundane things such as water, electricity, wood and air, we can not allow the inmediate profit of few against the profit of so many.

[VikCreamCake]

Good thing we're destroying the oceans aswell, then.

[andololol]

[QUOTE=Vodkavia;45827674]Actually a vast majority of the earth's oxygen is produced in the ocean, we're not going to choke if the amazon burns.[/QUOTE]

The ocean makes half of the oxygen, so with the downfall of trees in the world would mean that we are going to have at least a bit more difficulty breathing, plus, with less trees to immediately filter CO2, the global climate temperature would go way high.

[Dr.C]

Lots of potential cures for diseases and disorders also lie in the rainforest. It would benefit pharmaceutical companies to preserve and study the rainforest

[Rangergxi]

[QUOTE=Vodkavia;45827674]Actually a vast majority of the earth's oxygen is produced in the ocean, we're not going to choke if the amazon burns.[/QUOTE]

Shame that we're killing the plantlife in the oceans...

[Ronin]

Some really good news on a day full of bad news, glad to hear that part of the problem has been stopped at least for now.

[QUOTE=ZpankR;45826970]Force them to replant trees until the day they die[/QUOTE]

I have no objections to this.