Brazil’s Amazon hit by worst deforestation since 2006

3 yıl önce

Brazilâs Amazon rainforest lost more trees over the past year than in any year since 2006.

Satellite data revealed that deforestation rose by nearly 22 percent from last year to reach its highest level in 15 years, the National Institute for Space Research found, in a country which is home to most of the worldâs largest rainforest.

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The numbers come after leaders of more than 100 nations, Brazil included, promised at the COP26 climate summit this month to end deforestation over the next decade. Environmentalists have raised questions about whether Brazil can meet its target given the rate of destruction.

Climate activists also warn of the risks of letting the ambitious global pledge fall short: the devastation of forests drives up greenhouse gas emissions, and Global Forest Watch found the world lost 411 million hectares of forest between 2001 and 2020 â roughly half the size of the United States.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who had made campaign promises to open the Amazon to business interests, missed the climate summit in Glasgow, though his administration joined the global pledge to save the worldâs trees.

The world has pledged to stop deforestation before. But trees are still disappearing at an âuntenable rate.â

The Amazon in Brazil lost more than 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles) of rainforest from August 2020 to July 2021, the government research center said in a report dated Oct. 27 and released on Thursday. It was the fourth year in a row that the rate of deforestation rose, the figures showed.

The rainforest in Latin Americaâs largest country, under pressure from farming, logging and wildfires, is at the heart of the battle to limit emissions. Trees absorb carbon dioxide when they grow, slowing global warming, but release it into the atmosphere when they decay, or are cut or burned.

Brazilâs Environment Minister Joaquim Leite acknowledged on Thursday that the government could do more, Reuters reported. He told reporters the data did not account for more recent curbs on deforestation crimes.

However, Brazilian advocacy groups such as the Climate Observatory said the government had undermined efforts to protect the Amazon. It blamed the latest figures on policies such as road expansion and cuts to environmental fines which it said made âthe worldâs largest rainforest disappear before our eyes.â

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