Amazon deforestation hits record high in first half of 2022

First modification: 07/08/2022 – 22:09

This is the highest level since the National Institute for Space Research of Brazil (Inpe) began collecting data, in mid-2015, on the Amazon through the satellite monitoring system. stop.

Between January 1 and June 24, the largest tropical forest on the planet lost 3,987 square kilometers of vegetation, 10.6% more than in the same period in 2021.

The figures maintain that the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon advances in the equivalent of two soccer fields every minute. In June 2022 alone, 1,120 square kilometers of native vegetation were destroyed in that region of the country.

The Amazon contains large amounts of carbon that is released as vegetation is destroyed, warming the atmosphere and driving climate change. This huge parcel of land, now at risk, accounts for 59% of Brazilian soil.

Deforestation and fires

May and June mark the start of major fires in the region each year due to seasonal drought, but this year’s increased deforestation is fueling unusually high levels of burning.

From the beginning of 2022, the satellites of the Inpe They have registered a concatenation of records month after month in the Brazilian Amazon, as well as a level that breaks the historical figures in the month of June with 2,562 fires, the highest volume seen for this month for 15 years.

These are levels that are likely to worsen in the coming months, said Manoela Machado, a forest fire and deforestation researcher at the University of Oxford. A total of 7,533 fires have already been registered since the beginning of the year, the worst figure since 2010 and 17% more than last year.

A destruction of the jungle triggered by the Bolsonaro mandate

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, is the target of much international criticism for his environmental policies, undermining environmental protections he says are an obstacle to economic development. Since he took office in January 2019, deforestation figures for the Amazon have only increased.

Although the president has approved several decrees and laws to protect the jungle, at the same time he has cut the financing of the protection and surveillance programs managed by the Government and has promoted the opening of the indigenous lands, historically protected, to extractivist mining activities. and agricultural.

The main public body for environmental protection only spent 41% of its budget allocated to surveillance in 2021, according to data from the Climate Observatory group of NGOs, a network that brings together more than 70 organizations that defend natural ecosystems.

The Climate Observatory also reported that the data recorded to date indicate that the deforestation rate in 2022 will again exceed 10,000 square kilometers, a figure that has not been reported since 2008 and that will be seen again, according to estimates, under the mandate of the extreme right.

What could change the next presidential elections?

On October 2, the presidential elections will take place in Brazil. According to the vast majority of polls published to date, Jair Bolsonaro, who is seeking re-election, is likely to lose to his rival, left-wing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The most recent survey of the demographic company ‘Datafolha‘ indicates that Lula would obtain 47% of the voting intentions compared to 28% for Bolsonaro.

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Environmentalists are betting that Lula, who presided over a sharp decline in deforestation during his presidency between 2003 and 2010, will win the October elections to turn around Brazil’s environmental policy.

But even if Bolsonaro loses, high levels of deforestation and fires are likely this year as logging sectors, large landowners and leaders of other extractivist activities seek to profit from weak law enforcement in the face of a possible change of government, say scientists and activists.

With EFE, Reuters, AFP and local media