maio, 22 2020

Deforestation in the Legal Amazon increased by 64% in the first seven days of May 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. An analysis of data from Inpe's Deter system reveals warnings of deforestation in 261 km2 of the biome until the 7th of May - the highest record for the period in the past 10 years. In the first week of May 2019 there were alerts for 159 km2.

The accumulated deforestation between January 1st and May 7, 2020 reached an area of 1,536 km2, which corresponds to the emission of 74.4 million tons of CO2. The increase was 65% compared to the same period in 2019 and more than double the average of the last 10 years (678 km2).

Consolidated monthly alert data between January and April 2020 indicates that at least 10% of deforested areas are within Protected Areas and Indigenous Lands. Taken together, these alerts cover an area of 125 km2, which represents a 78% increase over 2019.

In Protected Areas (PAs), the area under deforestation alerts more than doubled between January and April: it was 105 km2 in 2020, compared to 40 km2 recorded in 2019. The PAs with the most deforestation alerts were the Environmental Protection Area (EPA) Triunfo do Xingu (30 km2), Acari National Park (18.2 km2), Jamanxim National Forest (11 km2), Jaci-Paraná Extractive Reserve (10.9 km2), APA do Tapajós (7.5 km2) and the Jamanxim National Park (5.3 km2).

According to Mariana Napolitano, Science Manager at WWF-Brazil, actions by the Federal Government may further aggravate the deforestation situation in the Legal Amazon.

"While in the National Congress some parliamentarians from backward sectors try to implement Bill 2633, which regulates land grabbing, the Executive further weakens the management and inspection of Protected Areas, with a set of actions that reduce the protection of Brazilian ecosystems, including the inoperability of the Amazon Fund, the drastic reduction in inspection actions, the dismissal of civil servants and the extinction of leadership posts in PAs, reducing the command of parks, reserves, ecological stations and EPAs ", she said.