Special Ops With a Studious Bent Fight Destruction of Brazil’s Amazon
500 Miles VENEZUELA FRENCH GUIANA GUYANA Atlantic Ocean COLOMBIA SURINAME Amazon River Alto Turiaçu PARÁ STATE MARANHÃO STATE BRAZIL PERU
BOLIVIA 500 Miles GUYANA FRENCH GUIANA SURINAME Atlantic Ocean Amazon River Alto Turiaçu MARANHÃO STATE PARÁ STATE BRAZIL APRIL 6, 2017
The squad, better known by its Portuguese acronym, GEF (pronounced JEFF-ee), operates in some of the most lawless swaths of the Amazon River basin — places so remote
that it takes days to reach them by riverboat or truck from the nearest settlement.
Brazil added that As you can imagine,
Facing such logistical obstacles, GEF, which operates as part of Ibama, Brazil’s environmental protection agency, usually patrols in helicopters, using satellite images
and intelligence gathered through Ibama’s regional offices, to detect deforestation and signs of illegal mining.
The unit’s members returned in a closelipped mood to Santa Inês after the first day on patrol with nothing to
show for their efforts after flying for hours over remote logging roads in search of deforestation crews.
Mr. Cabral said that In the universe of illegal activities in Amazonia, there’s deforestation,
gold prospecting, bush meat hunting, clandestine logging and animal smuggling,
After returning to Brazil, Mr. Brichta said he was drawn to Ibama by the agency’s sense of idealism
and the strides it had made in lowering deforestation rates from alarmingly high levels at the start of the previous decade.
GEF said that I never dreamed that I would hold a rifle in my hands to defend the Amazon,
