The Amazon forest lost 3,360 km² in the first five months of 2022, the highest value recorded for the period in 15 years of monitoring. The area corresponds to about 2,000 soccer fields of native forest deforested per day. The data are from the SAD (Deforestation Alert System) of Imazon (Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia).
In 2021, the accumulated deforestation for the period between January and May was 3,088 km². In 2020, the total of this interval of months was much smaller, 1,740 km².
In May 2022, deforestation of 1,476 km² was recorded, corresponding to 44% of the total area lost in the first five months of the year. This value is the worst for that month in the last 15 years.
The state that recorded the highest deforestation in this interval of months in 2022 was Amazonas, where 553 km² were lost, 38% of the total deforestation in Brazil in the period. Last year, that figure was 264 km² – that is, deforestation in the state more than doubled in 2022.
Another state that also recorded high deforestation was Pará, with 471 km². According to Imazon, a major problem in the state is the devastation in conservation units (UCs) and indigenous lands (TIs). The institute states that 6 of the 10 UCs and 4 of the 10 most deforested ILs in the forest are in Pará.
SAD uses satellite images to monitor the degradation or deforestation of the Amazon on a monthly basis. The system identifies forest degradation through damage that occurs to the ground as a result of logging activities or fire. Deforestation, on the other hand, is observed when the forest is cleared, something commonly associated with livestock, agriculture or mining.
Other measurements
Worrying numbers of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest have also recently been recorded by other organizations that monitor the region. Inpe (National Institute for Space Research) pointed out that in May 2022 there was almost 900 km² of deforestation – a smaller number, therefore, than that observed by Imazon.
According to Inpe data, the area of deforestation was the second largest for the month of May compared to the historical series, which began in 2015/2016.
In addition, Brazil was recently named the leader in the loss of tropical forests in the world in 2021. Alone, it was responsible for 40% of the registered deforestation, according to data from Global Forest Watch, a tool of the non-governmental organization WRI (World Resources Institute) in partnership with the University of Maryland, USA.
In total, the data indicated that the deforestation of these forests last year was 37,500 km² worldwide, with Brazil registering about 15,000 km² of this total.
