Regenerated forest area in Amazônia Legal expanded
"We have more forest space under regeneration than facing deforestation,” said Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira.
An area encompassing a little more than 172 thousand km² of deforested land in the region called Amazônia Legal is under regeneration. The data were released Wednesday (Nov 26) as part of TerraClass 2012, a survey carried out by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) and by the Brazilian Corporation of Agricultural Research (Embrapa).
According to Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira, out of the aforementioned space, 113 thousand km² remained under regeneration from 2008 to 2012. “This means that we have more forest space under regeneration than facing deforestation,” she said. She went on to say that, in the same period, deforestation has wiped out as much as 44.2 thousand km² in the Amazônia Legal, according to figures from the Surveillance Project on Deforestation in the Amazônia Legal, or Prodes. The project is an initiative launched by Inpe in 2008 in an effort to ascertain how much of Amazônia Legal has been lost. Data are brought up-to-date every two years.
TerraClass 2012 surveyed 751 km²—the total space facing deforestation since 1988—which accounts for 18.5% of the Amazônia Legal. The study took into consideration 12 thematic criteria. In 2012, apart from the areas under regeneration, which add up to 22.92% of the deforested area, nearly 345.5 thousand km² (45.97%) account for clean pastures (aimed at farming). Dirty pastures (used in farming and then abandoned) totaled 50.3 thousand km² (6.72%), and agriculture 42.3 km² (5.64%).
Embrapa President Maurício Lopes mentions, however, the agriculture expansion throughout the pasture areas. “We have a relatively low percentage of cultivation. The 60% or so that has been transformed into pastures is now being otherwise used or becoming forested areas again,” he said, highlighting that agriculture took a mere 2% of the deforestation that took place from 2010 to 2012.
In Lopes's view, the public policies aimed at encouraging the use of technology with a low rate of carbon dioxide emission prevented agriculture from moving to the forest and directed it towards pasture areas.
He further announced that the database from TerraClass will be made available on December 1 at www.inpe.br/cra/terraclass2012, where users will be able to combine and crosscheck figures from different states and municipalities.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Regenerated forest area in Amazônia Legal expanded
