Brazil's environmental enforcement agents set out in January on their first mission this year to combat illegal deforestation, with renewed energy after the election of a president who has promised to stop surging Amazon rainforest destruction.
But, after years of dwindling funding and staff at the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) under former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, only two of the 12 agents on the mission near the town of Uruara had any experience with field operations.
Their helicopters were out of action for maintenance so they had to travel by truck, bumping over 200 kilometers (125 miles) of rough dirt roads to visit five deforested areas in 12 hours. On one site, it appeared loggers had left minutes before IBAMA arrived, likely warned by lookouts along the roadway, the agents said.
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