Our missing rainforests

Like much of the rest of the world, I've been frightened and angry by the scale of the fires in the Amazon rainforest, and the unwillingness of Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, to react to them as a global emergency. That being said, I think it is a useful exercise for those of us on the left to consider whether there is a grain of truth in his response. Though his motivations may be money and power, I don't think he's out of order when, addressing the UN General Assembly yesterday, he accused the international backlash against him of being a form of colonialism. While I fervently disagree with Bolsonaro that nations have no responsibility to the rest of the world when it comes to managing their land and natural resources - and I don't believe that the majority of the international community is seeking to get involved out of a desire to take the Amazon's resources for themselves - it is hypocritical of many of us to express such vitriol over the deforestation of the Amazon when our own nations have over the course of centuries ransacked and all but erased the natural resources closer to home. Stepping back, I can see shades of the 'White Savior' complex. However, that should not stop the international community from using diplomatic and economic tools to ensure a vital global resource is protected.

All of this had been on my mind when up popped a Guardian article by George Monbiot. I'm currently (very slowly) reading his book Feral, and I'm sure I'll publish a review of that when I'm done, but this article summarises some of its key points very well, and with reference to the current headlines about the Amazon. To quote Monbiot:

"We rightly call on other nations to protect their stunning places. But where are our rainforests? I mean this both metaphorically and literally. Out of 218 nations, the UK ranks 189th for the intactness of its living systems. Having trashed our own wildlife, our excessive demand for meat, animal feed, timber, minerals and fossil fuels helps lay waste the rest of the world."

He goes on to lament the state of biodiversity in the UK's national parks and the lack of political action on matters of conservation. While there are serious problems all over the world, I don't think they're as separate as all that. Preservation of and access to wild places touches on public health, climate change, environmental justice and many other issues. I want to focus more on rewilding and reforesting in the UK, where I live, partly because I have a much bigger stake in what happens close to home than half way around the world, but also because we are so bereft of nature here that I want to help change it.