Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon increased in July for the first time in 15 months, official data released on Wednesday showed.
Last month, 666 square kilometers (250 square miles) of land was destroyed in the Amazon, a 33 percent increase from the 500 square kilometers lost in July 2023.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, a practice that had dramatically worsened under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
According to the government, one of the factors contributing to the increase in July was a strike by government workers at the environmental agency IBAMA.
Moreover, “the decrease (in deforestation) in July last year was very large,” said Joao Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary of the Ministry of the Environment, during a press conference explaining July’s poor results.
Over the past 12 months, deforestation has decreased by 45.7 percent compared to the previous period.
“The decline over the past year has been huge,” Capobianco said.
While deforestation destroyed 7,952 square kilometers of land between August 2022 and July 2023, only 4,315 square kilometers were destroyed during the same period in 2023-2024.
Deforestation is closely linked to agricultural expansion and illegal mining.
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, covers nearly 40 percent of South America. Over the past century, about 20 percent of its area has been lost to deforestation, driven by agriculture and ranching, logging and mining, and urbanization.
Tropical forests absorb carbon and are an important ally in the fight against climate change. However, they are also the most affected by deforestation.
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