Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is at its lowest point in five years

Deforestation in bigger Earth's rainforest decreased by 22% as of July 31, 2023 compared to the previous year.This was revealed by the analyzes of the data collected and processed by the Brazilian National Space Research Institute (INPE), which reported that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has reached 9,001 square kilometers, or share below 10,000 units for the first time since 2018.From July to October 2023, the updated data reveal that the deforested area suffered a 52% decrease compared to the previous year and, furthermore, according to estimates, the decrease in tree loss has reduced the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 7.5%, a fact that is anything but insignificant if you consider that Brazil is the sixth largest producer of emissions in the world.Marina Silva, Brazilian Environment Minister, said:«Behind all this there was a political decision.When we change this reality we are changing the image of the country."

According to i data, which are regularly measured from August of one year to July of the following, the inversion of the deforestation curve occurred in January 2023, the month in which a 54% increase was recorded from August to December 2022.From January to July 2023, however, the decline was 42%.This means that, if the 2022 trend had been maintained, the annual quota would have exceeded 13,000 square kilometers.The website of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment reports that «the decline in deforestation in the Amazon recorded is the result of the intensification of command and control actions, with particular attention to the increase, in the same period, of 104% in fines applied for infringements against the flora of the Amazon".Furthermore, seizures increased by 61%, embargoes by 31% and infringement notices issued by ICMBio (the administrative arm of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment) increased by 320% compared to the previous year.

The decline in deforestation came in the year the Amazon is going through one of the worst droughts on record, which blocked river transport and killed a fair number of animals, including 154 dolphins in Lake Tefé when the water temperature he passed 39°C.The greatest deforestation was recorded in three states which have also accounted for the majority of agricultural expansion in the country in recent years:Parà (36.4%), Mato Grosso (23.2%) and Amazonas (17.3%) and, among these, only the second recorded an increase in deforestation compared to the previous year.The hypothesis therefore is that much of the phenomenon would have resulted from the hoarding of land by farmers and the subsequent replacement of trees with pastures.

Safeguarding the Amazon forest means also protect the global ecosystem:according to a survey annual report of the World Resources Institute – a global research nonprofit working to meet people's essential needs and protect and restore nature – in 2022 the world has lost 10.2 million acres of primary forest, with an increase of 10% compared to the previous year, and Brazil is responsible for over 40% of the recorded destruction.

[by Roberto Demaio]