Venezuela recently deployed military forces to the Guyanese border in what may be an attempt to annex part of the smaller country’s national territory.
Despite a written agreement in December between Maduro and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali denouncing the use of force, Venezuela’s military deployment signals a departure from that agreement. It has the potential to escalate tensions further. This development happened days after Exxon Mobil announced its intention to continue oil exploration in the offshore territory contested by Venezuela.
The Guiana Shield is located at the start of two atmospheric rivers that carry moisture across South America. Map courtesy of Rainforest Foundation US.Guyana’s western border, disputed by Venezuela, is over 1,800 kilometers and largely unmarked, winding through dense rainforest, rivers, and savannah, with few paved roads. The majority of inhabitants on all sides of this border are Indigenous peoples.
This has caused some scientists to refer to the region as a hot-spot, or a “thermostat,” its forests regulating temperatures across the Amazon basin and capturing millions of tons of carbon in the process.‘ Once a certain threshold of deforestation is crossed, the world’s largest tropical forest would lose the necessary moisture to sustain itself, causing a mass die-off of trees and incalculable damage to life on our planet.