• Ar
  • Es
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Feature
  • Videos
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Feature
Videos
Infographs
In Pictures
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Environment
  4. Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon falls in Lula's 1st month in office
Environment

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon falls in Lula's 1st month in office

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 10 Feb 21:08

Satellite data reveal that deforestation in Brazil's Amazon falls in January from a year earlier under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

  • Trees lie in a deforested area in front of a house in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, in Xapuri, Acre state, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022 (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
    Trees lie in a deforested area in front of a house in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, in Xapuri, Acre state, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022 (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest decreased by 61% in January, after left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returned to the job, in comparison with the same period last year, according to an official report published on Friday.

The DETER monitoring system's satellite images revealed that a 167-square km area had been destroyed, according to the INPE space research institute.  

Read: Brazilian Amazon deforestation, up 60% increase under Bolsonaro, drops

That area amounts equal to 22,000 football pitches when far-right climate change skeptic Jair Bolsonaro was in power.  

The revelation came right ahead of the Brazilian President's due meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington.  

Despite the year-over-year decrease in deforestation, the new figure is still higher than two of Bolsonaro's presidency's four years; in 2019, the area was 136 sq km and only 83 sq km in 2021. 

Read: Save the Amazon! Stop Deforestation!

However, average annual deforestation increased by 75 percent in comparison with the previous decade, of Bolsonaro's presidency.

The policies instigated by Bolsonaro that favored the logging and agriculture industries, were the main reason for deforestation.  

Last month's data "may reflect the resumption of the environmental defense agenda" that the Lula administration has put on its priority list, according to the Brazilian arm of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 

However, the WWF warned that talking about a reversal of increasing deforestation is 'too early', since it usually peaks in the dry season that starts in June.  

"The action plans for prevention and control of deforestation and forest fires must be restructured as a matter of urgency so that Brazil rediscovers its role as an international environmental leader," said Frederico Machado, a conservation specialist at WWF Brazil, who blamed Bolsonaro for his policies and accused him of being "anti-environmental" and "criminal."  

It is worth noting that Lula presided over a sharp drop in deforestation when he previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

He has vowed to relaunch Brazil's environmental protection programs, fight for zero deforestation, and ensure that the South American giant is no longer a "pariah" when it comes to climate change.

  • Brazil
  • Amazon
  • deforestation
  • Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
  • us pres
  • Washington
  • Bolsonaro
  • World Wildlife Fund

Trending Now

All
Smoke rises from an illegally lit fire in Amazon rainforest reserve, south of Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil, on August 15, 2020. (AFP)

Lula battling Bolsonaro-era record deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon

Most Read

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference on 25, February, 2022. (AFP)

Kiev unable to launch counteroffensive: Zelensky

  • Europe
  • 25 Mar
Europe's move has only increased Putin’s esteem outside the West -- but estimation of Europe’s political nous and understanding of Russia, however, is sharply diminished.

Lawfare Comes into Fashion: The New Geo-political ‘Rack’

  • Analysis
  • 25 Mar
President Joe Biden listens as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, March 3, 2023 (AP).

Hersh: Nord Stream explosion decision possibly 'anger' or 'punishment

  • US & Canada
  • 25 Mar
A woman walks by a money exchange shop decorated with different countries currency banknotes at Central, a business district in Hong Kong, Aug. 6, 2019 (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

New BRICS currency underway: State Duma Deputy Chairman

  • Europe
  • 30 Mar

Read this

All
Syria
MENA

Repeated strikes show coordination between 'Israel', terrorists: Syria

  • Today
Medvedev
Europe

'NATO peacekeepers' to be targeted if deployed in Ukraine: Medvedev

  • Today
Romanian Indian
US & Canada

Romanian, Indian families found dead crossing into US from Canada

  • Today
ds
US & Canada

Lockheed falls behind in GMLRS production to meet new demands

  • Today
Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS