Amazon has record deforestation in September

The Amazon had its worst month of deforestation in the recent history of Inpe (National Institute for Space Research). The Deter program recorded 1,454 km² of deforestation in the biome.

The value slightly exceeds the 1,453 km² recorded in September 2019, which was, so far, the worst September ever recorded by Inpe. Deter’s recent historical series begins in 2015. Before that, Deter was already monitored, but due to the improvement in deforestation detection sensors, comparisons with previous periods are not valid.

The felling recorded in September is equivalent to more than 900 Ibirapuera parks in São Paulo.

Deter’s main objective is not to measure deforestation in the biome. Its function is to detect deforestation in almost real time to assist in inspection operations by environmental agencies. However, from Deter it is possible to observe deforestation trends within a year.

In the Amazon there has been a sequence of negative data for the biome. In addition to record-breaking deforestation, the month of September was also the worst month for fires in more than a decade, according to data from Inpe’s Queimadas program.

There were more than 41,000 hotspots in the forest in September of that year. The house of 40 thousand fires had not been reached since 2010, when more than 43 thousand fires were registered in the biome.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}