The Atlantic Forest, the most devastated Brazilian biome, is experiencing a moment that it seemed would not be repeated in its history: a huge increase in deforestation.
Destruction in the Atlantic Forest jumped 66% in 2020-2021 compared to the previous period (2020-2019). This is the largest percentage increase recorded since monitoring began in 1985 (until 2010, data were released and covered a period of five years).
In the period 2020-2021, 21,642 hectares of the biome were cleared, which retains just over 12% of its original cover. It is the highest value since 2015/2016, when it was 29,075 hectares.
The data are from a report by the NGO SOS Mata Atlântica and Inpe (National Institute for Space Research) released on Tuesday night (24).
“We are moving backwards”, says Luis Fernando Guedes Pinto, director of knowledge at SOS Mata Atlântica and coordinator of Atlas Mata Atlântica, the project that annually surveys the deforested areas in the biome.
Last week, in an overflight over areas of Minas Gerais that had records of deforestation last year, the SOS Mata Atlântica team caught new clearings in progress – which, due to the date, are not included in the data cited in the report.
“Horrible images. Those images of the Amazon. We have to remember that we are talking about the Atlantic Forest, a richer region, with greater governance. We should be talking exclusively about restoration and we are talking about things of this level. [desmatamento]. It’s a total reversal of the agenda”, says Guedes Pinto.
The results are seen as surprising and worrying. In all, 15 states show high deforestation — only 2 had a reduction.
Despite the generalized growth, three states account for more than 80% of the recorded destruction. Minas Gerais, leader in deforestation, took 9,209 hectares of forest to the ground. In second place, Bahia felled 4,968 hectares. Paraná closes the list with 3,299 hectares felled. All of them had more than 50% destruction increases over the previous period. In Minas, the jump reached 96%.
Even states that were approaching zero deforestation (when data do not exceed 100 hectares in the year) showed growth in destruction, as is the case of São Paulo, Sergipe and Rio de Janeiro. The state of Rio de Janeiro, for example, used to be below 100 hectares, but now it has had a 95% increase in the removal of forests.
The only explanation for such a general increase, according to Guedes Pinto, would be an anti-environmental view that has spread across the country.
“It’s been practically four years of a culture of anti-forestry, denial of science and dismantling of environmental policy. And an expectation of impunity, an attack on environmental legislation in Congress and administrative acts by the federal government,” says the expert. “They even attacked the Atlantic Forest Law. We can’t forget about the [Ricardo] Salles.”
Guedes Pinto refers to an order signed by the then Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, in 2020, which ended up granting amnesty to rural landowners who destroyed the Atlantic Forest. This document recognized as consolidated areas (without the need for recovery) the APPs (Permanent Preservation Areas, such as river banks) deforested and occupied until July 2008.
The order, later revoked by Salles, followed an opinion from the AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union), made after pressure from the CNA (National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil) and agribusiness in the south of the country.
“The Atlantic Forest has a special law, has more robust governance and there is legal certainty in these areas. We were not expected to reach this condition. The results show that this national institutional context ends up contaminating people and they make the decision to disrespecting the law, going illegally and opening new areas, unfortunately”, says the Atlas coordinator.
Deforestation and agribusiness
Minas Gerais and Bahia, both with large continuous areas of deforestation, form a kind of frontier block for felling the Atlantic Forest. In these places, the destruction is linked to agribusiness, according to Guedes Pinto.
Paraná is another one with deforestation linked to agriculture. There, however, the forest is eaten, little by little, with small cuts along the edges.
Deforestation dynamics remain different in other places, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where deletions are usually linked to urban and real estate pressures.
The Atlas coordinator warns that the idea of ​​the report is not to point out the legality or otherwise of suppression of vegetation. But the information that we have about authorizations for deforestation in the country indicates that what predominates are illegal deforestation.
According to MapBiomas data, more than 90% of deforestation in the biome has signs of illegality.
It is also worth mentioning that the monitoring is focused on mature forest fragments, rich in biodiversity and biomass. Therefore, deforestation in these areas ends up having an even greater impact.
“For us to have continuous deforestation again at this level of 20 thousand hectares is an environmental tragedy”, says Guedes Pinto, who recalls that, according to the Atlantic Forest law, deletions in the biome can only be authorized if they are in the public interest or with a purpose Social.
The biome reaching an election year with these deforestation rates is also something of concern, considering that, in election years, illegal logging tends to increase in the Atlantic Forest.
In these years, says the NGO specialist, dialogue and demands on public entities often become more complicated, considering the changes that occur internally, with people leaving their positions to compete for elective positions.
The destruction of the forest also weighs on another point that has grown in recent years in Brazil: greenhouse gas emissions. The atlas points out that deforestation recorded in the Atlantic Forest in the period 2020-2021 threw 10.3 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.two equivalent (measure of adding greenhouse gases).
The country is part of the Paris Agreement, which seeks to drastically reduce gas emissions to contain the rise in global temperature. Deforestation and agribusiness are the main responsible for Brazilian emissions.
What do the Environment Departments say?
THE Sheet contacted the environment secretariats of the states with the highest levels of deforestation, as well as the São Paulo secretariat.
Only the São Paulo Secretariat of Infrastructure and Environment responded until the conclusion of the report.
In a note, she states that “the methodology used by SOS Mata Atlântica does not consider licensed areas with due compensation, in accordance with current environmental legislation, including for works of public interest.”
According to the agency, in the NGO’s previous report, half of the felling hectares designated for the state had licensing by the environmental agency and compensatory measures.
“It is worth remembering that São Paulo continues to have one of the lowest rates of deforestation in the country and an area of ​​Atlantic forest of 5.4 million hectares”, says the note, which emphasizes that it will still analyze the data presented in the report.
