Brazil’s Amazon Hits Its Worst Deforestation Level in 15 Years
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest increased 22% from August 2020 to July 2021 compared with the same period last year, hitting a 15-yr record, authorities said on Thursday.
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Brazil’s Amazon deforestation surges to worst in 15 years
The area deforested in Brazil’s Amazon reached a 15-year high after a 22% jump from the prior year, Brazilian authorities reported Thursday.
The Brazilian Amazon has lost 13,235 square kilometers of rainforest in one year only, hitting a record high since 2006.
This new record constitutes a blow to Bolsonaro government’s recent attempts to maintain its environmental credibility, due to overtures it made to the administration of US President Joe Biden.
Before Jair Bolsonaro’s term began in Jan. 2019, the Brazilian Amazon hadn’t recorded a single year with more than 10,000 square kilometers of deforestation in over a decade. Between 2009 and 2018, the average was 6,500 square kilometers. Since then, the annual average leaped to 11,405 square kilometers, and the three-year total is an area bigger than the state of Maryland.
“It is a shame. It is a crime,” Márcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory told The Associated Press. “We are seeing the Amazon rainforest being destroyed by a government which made environmental destruction its public policy.”
