The rates of deforestation in the Amazon “are still alarming and require redoubled attention and reinforced action” from the government, the United States Department of State said this Friday (12), after the release of the latest data from INPE (National Institute of Space Research).
The numbers indicate that, from August 2021 to July 2022, 8,590.33 km² of the biome were demolished, equivalent to more than five cities in São Paulo. The new data is only behind the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 periods, respectively the first and second years with the highest deforestation, according to Deter.
Deter does not have the function of accurately measuring deforestation. For this, Inpe relies on Prodes, a more accurate system that publishes deforestation data —always computed from August of one year to July of the following year— in the last months of the year. Even so, from Deter, whose primary objective is to help operations to combat deforestation, it is possible to see if there are trends of decline, maintenance or increase in destruction.
THE Sheetthe State Department said the US will “continue to work” with forest conservation stakeholders, “including the private sector, civil society, indigenous peoples, and subnational governments” on conserving and restoring forests, as well as “encouraging the government to implement policies” to meet the objectives agreed at COP26, including ending illegal deforestation by 2028 and reducing pollutant emissions by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.
“We welcome the ambitious goals announced by the Brazilian government at COP26 and other international forums. The focus has now shifted to implementing these goals.”
“We are also increasing our focus on supporting Brazil’s enforcement efforts to combat illegal deforestation. We look forward to hearing more about Brazil’s government efforts to reduce deforestation in light of the latest figures,” the agency said.
The commitment to environmental preservation guidelines was one of the main points of tension between the Jair Bolsonaro and Joe Biden administrations, with the Democrat and co-religionists criticizing the Brazilian president for the lack of appreciation for the environmental agenda.
The figures released this Friday make the very high levels of deforestation achieved during the Bolsonaro government even more consolidated.
Only in the most recent cycle (August/21 to July/22) there were five months with the highest numbers of destruction ever seen for those months: October (876.56 km²), January (430.44 km²), February (198, 67 km²), April (1,026.35 km²) and June (1,120.2 km²).
Taking into account Deter data, more than 31,000 km² of Amazonia have been cut down since the beginning of the Bolsonaro government, in 2019. This is equivalent to approximately more than 720 km² of forest falling to the ground monthly, which represents more than 450 Ibirapuera parks destroyed every month.
The value is considerably higher than what was seen in previous presidential terms. From August 2015 (beginning of the new Deter) until the removal of President Dilma Rousseff (PT) due to the opening of the impeachment process, in May 2016 (nine months), about 364 km² of Amazonia were demolished per month.
In the 32 months of Michel Temer’s (MDB) government, already taking into account the months of Dilma’s absence, about 420 km² of Amazonia were deforested per month.
Bolsonaro also came to disallow an operation to combat deforestation in progress. In the first year of government, as data from Deter indicated a surge in destruction, the president questioned the quality of Inpe’s work, stating that the institute’s then director, Ricardo Galvão (now a pre-candidate for federal deputy for the Sustainability Network), could to be “at the service of some NGO”. Galvão responded to the attack suffered and ended up leaving Inpe.
