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Felling in Humaitá in the state of Amazonas in Brazil. Archive image.
1 / 2Photo: Edmar Barros/AP/TT
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is increasing for the first time in a long time. Prolonged drought – and a strike among environmental workers – are some of the reasons. At the same time, deforestation has almost halved since 2023.
About 666 square kilometers of rainforest disappeared in the Amazon during July, which is an increase of 33 percent compared to the same month last year. This is shown by new figures from Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment.
This means that deforestation is increasing for the first time in 15 months.
Widespread drought and the fact that a strike for higher wages and better working conditions has broken out among staff working to counter deforestation are said to be some of the reasons, reports the Reuters news agency.
The drought increases the risk of fires. During July, a record number of fires were registered in the rainforest areas, according to Reuters. Over 11,400 fires have raged in the past month, satellite images from Brazil’s space agency Inpe show. It is the highest July figure since 2005. Usually, the dry season only reaches its peak during August and September. The fact that the July weather this year is so dry is considered to be due to human influence on the climate.
Worse under Bolsonaro
Despite July’s increase, deforestation is at significantly lower levels with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the presidency than when his predecessor, right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro, ruled the country.
In July 2022, the last year of Bolsonaro’s presidency, deforestation was twice as great as in July 2024, according to Inpe.
In the last twelve months, the Amazon has lost 4,300 square kilometers of forest – an area about three times the size of London. This means that deforestation has decreased by nearly 46 percent compared to the previous twelve-month period, the Ministry of the Environment states.
Brazil’s environmental reputation
As the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon plays a crucial role in combating global warming, thanks to the enormous amounts of greenhouse gases that the forests absorb.
Protecting the rainforest and restoring Brazil’s environmental reputation in the eyes of the outside world has become something of a hallmark of left-wing leader Lula da Silva’s presidency. The ambition is to completely stop illegal devastation by 2030, a promise that has been praised internationally.
Since Lula da Silva took office in January 2023, his government has deployed the military to drive out illegal scavengers and gold diggers, channeled money to sustainability projects and put forward plans to protect indigenous land in the rainforest.
FACT Amazon
Deforestation in the Amazon was greatly reduced in 2023, following political efforts in Brazil and Colombia.
Globally, however, rainforest equivalent to ten football fields per minute disappeared last year, according to a report from the World Resources Institute (WRI).
The political shift in Brazil, which saw Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva return to the presidency last year, saw devastation drop by 36 percent compared to 2022 – despite an increase in some areas of the country.
In Colombia, where reduced logging has been part of the peace talks, the reduction was 49 percent.
At the same time, however, fires and increased logging elsewhere – including in Bolivia, Laos and Nicaragua – caused the positive effects to largely disappear.
Globally, rainforest losses decreased by only 9 percent, which was also reported by the BBC, among others.
Sources: World Resources Institute (WRI), AFP and others
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