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Aerial view of a burnt area in Labrea, southern Amazonas State, Brazil, on September 17, 2022.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 31 percent in the first five months of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration versus the same period last year, officials said Wednesday.
Satellite monitoring detected 1,986 square kilometers (767 square miles) of forest cover destroyed in Brazil's share of the world's biggest rainforest from January to May, down from 2,867 square kilometers for the same period in 2022, according to the national space agency's DETER surveillance program.
The figures from space agency INPE were welcome news for environmentalists pinning their hopes on veteran leftist Lula, who took office on January 1 vowing to fight for zero illegal deforestation after a surge in clear-cutting and fires in the Amazon under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
Under Bolsonaro, an ally of Brazil's powerful agribusiness sector, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by more than 75 percent versus the previous decade.
Lula marked World Environment Day on Monday by announcing a sweeping new plan to combat deforestation, with hundreds of targets and objectives, including the immediate seizure of half the territory being illegally exploited for logging, farming, mining or other activities on protected lands.
"Brazil plays a major role in the balance of our planet's climate, largely thanks to the Amazon," Lula said.
"Preventing deforestation in the Amazon also helps reduce global warming."
Experts say the new government's real test on deforestation will start in the coming months, with the onset of drier weather in the Amazon from around July—typically peak season for deforestation and forest fires.
The Lula administration has suffered a series of setbacks on the environment this week at the hands of Brazil's Congress, in which conservative foes of Lula hold the majority.
Last week, lawmakers passed bills cutting the powers of the environment and Indigenous-affairs ministries and dramatically curbing the protection of Indigenous lands.
JonasPolskyAMA on June 11st, 2023 at 18:22 UTC »
The Amazon has been getting ravaged since I was in grade school. This is the first time I've ever heard of any type of improvement. Let's keep it up!
feleaodt on June 11st, 2023 at 17:21 UTC »
On the other hand, the Cerrado (the brazilian equivalent of the african savanah) had an increase on devastation. What is happening is that with all the attention focused on the Amazon, cattle farmers are looking other ways to expand farming lands.
While the Brazilian government doesn't focus on actually punishing the cattle industry for deforestation, this will continue one way or another.
It is hard, since the heads of this industry are as strong as the heads of the gun industry on the USA.
Edit to add: The deforestation is not for wood and it is not done by common people. It is 99% done by cattle farmers to create grasslands for cattle to roam. This a-holes have a strong presence in politics and are the main responsibles for the deaths of many indigenous people and environmental activists.
Moistened_Nugget on June 11st, 2023 at 16:29 UTC »
How is this not bigger news?
Do people not realize how connected ecosystems are across vast distances? The ceasing of deforestation worldwide would likely see a more immediate impact to the global climate than eliminating household gas stoves and furnaces. Maybe even more than eliminating gas cars and trucks