Plots at Amazon rainforest being sold illegally in Facebook Marketplace

 

Brazil’s protected rainforest including parts of national forests and land reserved for indigenous peoples are being illegally sold via Facebook.

The Californian social media giant said it was “ready to work with local authorities”, but indicated it would not take independent action of its own to halt the trade. Our commerce policies require buyers and sellers to comply with laws and regulations”.

The leader of one of the indigenous communities affected has urged the tech firm to do more, and even the campaigners have claimed the country’s government is unwilling to halt the sales. “ The Land invaders feel very empowered to the point that they are not ashamed of going on Facebook to make an illegal land deal” head of environmental NFO Kaninde, Ivaneide Bandeira.

Some of the listings feature satellite images and GPS coordinates. The illegal activity is being fuelled by Brazil’s cattle ranching industry. The deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is at a 10-year high, and Facebook’s marketplace has become a go-to site for sellers. The land illegally cleared and ready for farming,  had tripled the asking price to £25, 000.

There is a plot for sale in the Uru Eu Wau Wau indigenous reserve for about £16, 400 in the local currency, home to a community of more than 200 Uru Eu Wau Wau people.

Brazil’s deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has rocketed since 2008 as  4281m² (11, 088 Km² ) of rainforest were destroyed from August 2019 to July 2020 a 9,5 per cent increase from the previous year.

The Amazon is home to about three million species of plants and animals and one million indigenous people and is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warm9ing. The Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro encouraged agriculture and mining activities in the world’s largest rainforest