Big Agra Driven Deforestation Is Behind Floods In South America

El Niño is a cyclical phenomenon, is part of nature, but its effects can be exacerbated by deforestation.

(The Real Agenda) The top-three causes of the recent floods in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay are El Niño, AgriBusiness and extremely lousy location of villages.

The El Niño phenomenon has brought more rain than usual to south of Latin America, but it alone does not explain the overflowing rivers that have forced over 160,000 people to be evacuated from their homes these days in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Humans have undoubtedly played a significant role in the effects the floods have had in four different countries, but not in the way you think.

According to climate alarmists, climate change -they actually mean to say global warming- makes El Niño a more extreme phenomenon.

Without the slightest bit of proof, liberals worldwide and the mainstream media that perpetuates their lies have pointed to alleged man-made global warming as the cause of the grave floods, but there are more reasons behind it that they fail to cite.

Various experts attribute the severity of flooding to deforestation, which has accelerated in all four countries in the last three decades. Paraguay, southern Brazil and northern Argentina have allowed Big Agra to cut down thousands of hectares of forests to plant transgenic soybeans.

Greedy governments and their accomplice farmers have been reaping the economic benefits of planting genetically modified soy, which has become their green gold. Soy, as a commodity, offered high returns over the past few years especially between 2002 and 2014, but it also bears responsibility for the high temperatures registered over those lands which were not there before native forests were cut down to allow farmers to plant soy.

It is true, El Niño phenomenon brought the rain just as it has done every time the oscillation occurs in the part of the world, but it is the destruction of millenial forests which has caused the water accumulated from the rains to flood villages in all four countries.

“The increased precipitation and significant loss of forest cover in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, which are among the 10 countries with more deforestation around the world, did not allow the natural absorption of water,” said Greenpeace in a document.

The campaign coordinator for this NGO in Argentina, Hernán Giardini, explained: “The forests and jungles, besides concentrating considerable biodiversity, play a critical role in climate regulation, maintenance of sources and water flows and soil conservation. They are our natural sponge and protective umbrella.

When we lose forests we become more vulnerable to heavy rains and run a serious risk of flooding. “There is only 7% of the original forest area of ​​the Atlantic Forest and The Missions, an intersection point common to all four nations which is bathed by the Parana and Iguazu rivers, according to Greenpeace.

“In Paraguay and Brazil, the forest area in that region has been virtually destroyed, the largest remaining part is in Argentina,” added the environmentalist organization.

Effects of the El Niño Southern Oscillation

El Niño is a cyclical phenomenon, is part of nature, but its effects can be exacerbated by deforestation, “says Benjamin Grassi, professor of meteorology at the National University of Asuncion.

“Deforestation leaves the soil unprotected. The type of rain we’ve had was torrential precipitation, and a lot of water in a short time greatly affects the bare soil capacity of absorb the excess rain, because it causes water to drain and easily damage roads, crops,” says Grassi.

In Argentina floods were not only recorded in the coastal region bordering with Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay but also in the central province of Cordoba, where soy plantations have also substituted native forests.

“The problem is not necessarily tied to rainfall, but the rise of the water table,” said Minister of Water and Environment of Cordoba, Fabian Lopez.

“As a result of various agricultural policies, the government allowed less plantation of winter crops such as corn, wheat and alfalfa, and permitted the cultivation of more soybeans. That led to a water table imbalance, and in recent years that water table has risen in a major way and is a few centimeters from the ground,” Lopez described.

Altogether Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil now produce half of the genetically modified soy that is processed and consumed worldwide, this GM soy has not only brought prosperity to Big Agra, but has also left hundreds of thousands of people without their homes.

In addition to the greed with which large agricultural conglomerates go about contaminating the soil and the rest of the environment with their GMO crops, the poorest countries, which are usually the hosts of their large contaminating operations, now have to deal with the realization that destroying native forests to replace them with GM soy, corn or cotton, will not only bring poverty as a consequence of adopting a mono-culture model, but also destroy their livelihoods.

Luis R. Miranda is an award-winning journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief at The Real Agenda. His career spans over 18 years and almost every form of news media. His articles include subjects such as environmentalism, Agenda 21, climate change, geopolitics, globalisation, health, vaccines, food safety, corporate control of governments, immigration and banking cartels, among others. Luis has worked as a news reporter, on-air personality for Live and Live-to-tape news programs. He has also worked as a script writer, producer and co-producer on broadcast news. Read more about Luis.