The Amazon under Bolsonaro – the worst destruction in Brazil in ten years

The destruction of the Brazilian Amazon continues to escalate — despite President Bolsonaro’s promises to the contrary.

In one year, an area as large as Skåne was wiped out.

At the same time, fires are increasing in the rainforests.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro I promised in April – After intense international criticism – to stop illegal logging Amazon. Already the next day, he cut the country’s environmental budget by another quarter.

Now there are numbers showing that the destruction continues to increase – and that the rate is the highest in ten years.

A total of 10,476 square kilometers of rainforest were lost in the Amazon region between August 2020 and July 2021, according to Brazil. Amazon Research Institute. This corresponds to an area as large as Skåne and is a 57 percent increase over the same period the previous year.

“out of control”

The disturbing data is based on careful analysis of satellite imagery.

“Deforestation is still out of control,” Amazon researcher Carlos Sousa told the Guardian. Brazil is acting against the global climate agenda, which seeks to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The researcher is now calling for immediate action from the Brazilian government to stop the destruction.

This year, several research studies have been able to show that the world’s largest rainforest is not doing well. Amazon has over the past decade swarm more carbon dioxide from being absorbed. According to the Brazilian rymdforskningsinstitutet Inpe The equivalent of three football fields is lost from the rainforest every minute.

approaching breaking point

Aftonbladet spoke earlier this summer with Carlos Nobre at the University of São Paulo, who is perhaps the world’s most famous climate researcher focusing on the Amazon. He now fears that the combination of devastation and a warmer climate is about to push the Amazon over an irreversible tipping point, as the forest begins to destroy itself.

– He said this provides more evidence that the Amazon is approaching a breaking point.

At the same time as the new data is released, the Amazon is entering a dry period, the time of year when farmers traditionally set fire to the forest to increase their areas. In the Amazon state of Acre, 29 major fires have been reported so far this year compared to just one last year, according to reports. Mongabay news site.