Amazon deforestation up 9.5% to 11 thousand km²

Deforestation in the Amazon totaled 11,088 square kilometers (km²) from August 2019 through July 2020, the National Institute for Space Studies (Inpe), linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology, reported Monday (Nov. 30).

The figure, released during a visit of vice-President Hamilton Mourão to Inpe São Paulo headquarters, is an estimate made by the Project of Monitoring Deforestation in the Legal Amazon through Satellite (Prodes), a system belonging to the Brazilian government which monitors the Amazon. “These are audited data, behind which there’s hectic work,” said Science and Technology Minister Marcos Pontes, in attendance.

The deforested are was 9.5 percent higher than the 10,129 km² registered previously, from August 2018 through July 2019, Inpe declared. This is the fourth consecutive spike.

Mourão, who chairs the Amazon Council, said the work of the Amazon Forces in tackling the issue this year started late, in May, but, he added, it was still capable of reducing an even further increase, expected at over 20 percent.

“We’re not here to celebrate any of this. That’s nothing to celebrate, but it means that the efforts are being made and are starting to prove fruitful,” the vice-president said. He went on to note that 85 percent of deforestation takes place in four states—Pará, Mato Grosso, Amazonas, and Rondônia. “We’re aware of the are we have to focus our work on,” he argued.