Morada do Peixe restaurant deforests preservation area in Manaus

Isabella Rabelo – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS (AM) – Residents and community leaders who defend the preservation of the Igarapé do Gigante, located in the Planalto neighborhood, in the West Zone of Manaus, have denounced the deforestation of the area that covers the source of the stream on social media. The action is being carried out by the Morada do Peixe restaurant, which aims to expand the establishment’s space.

The Environmental Policing Battalion (BPAmb), a specialized unit of the Amazonas Military Police (PM-AM) that works to repress environmental crimes, was called in by local residents on Saturday 15th. The military institution said it had received reports of the alleged environmental crime and said it would send vehicles to the scene: “At the moment, the vehicles are engaged in an incident. As soon as they vacate, I’ll send them there”.

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Sandra Souza, a resident and president of Conjunto Augusto Montenegro, located near the site, told CENARIUM MAGAZINE that the company had been clearing trees for about a month and had even paused the work because of the complaints.

“They had been carrying out this deforestation for some time. After some confusion with the Environmental Police and Semmas [the Municipal Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability] they stopped for about three days, but now they’re back again,” Sandra said.

Preserved area

The Igarapé do Gigante is defined as a Permanent Protection Area (APP), which was established by the Forest Code (Law No. 12.651/2012) and consists of legally protected, environmentally fragile and vulnerable territorial spaces, which can be public or private, urban or rural, covered or not by native vegetation.

According to environmentalist Jossimar Farias, a member of the Amazonas Environmental Observatory and the Amazonas Association of Environmental Movements (AMA), the site is an urban forest fragment of great importance for the climate of the city of Manaus.

“The main consequence is the local climate. Anyone can feel the difference in temperature in our city when passing through urban forest areas. In addition, there is the impact on species of flora and fauna. Mucuras, birds, insects. It’s a domino effect that affects an entire ecosystem, including the quality of life of the people of Manaus,” explained the expert.

“The backward mentality of our local businesspeople is unbelievable. They don’t pay attention to the environmental issues of licenses, studies and registering environmental impacts. This thinking that the forest is an obstacle needs to be urgently revised if we want to survive on the planet”, he criticized.

Legislation

According to the Forest Code and the National Environmental Policy Law (Law 6.938/81), Permanent Protection Areas, in the event of suppression, are protected by the requirement of prior and valid authorization from the competent environmental agency, regardless of their biome, location, typology or state of conservation (primary or secondary).

CENARIUM has requested a note from the establishment to comment on the deforestation in a conservation area and is awaiting a response.

Edited by Jadson Lima
Translated by Bruno Sena