Rio de Janeiro, May 6 (BUS): Deforestation detected in the Brazilian Amazon broke all records for April, and similar new records followed in January and February, reflecting an alarming increase in devastation in a state deep within the rainforest. , the Associated Press reported.
Satellite alerts of deforestation for April correspond to more than 1,000 square kilometers (nearly 400 square miles), the highest number for that month in seven years of record keeping and 74% more than the same month in 2021, the previous record.
It is the first time that deforestation warnings have exceeded 1,000 square kilometers in a month in the rainy season, which runs from December to April.
“The April number is pretty scary. Because of the rainfall, it has traditionally been a month of less deforestation,” Soleil Araujo, senior public policy specialist at Climate Observatory, a network of environmental groups, told The Associated Press.
The data comes from the Brazilian Space Agency’s Deter observing system, and corresponds to the first 29 days of April. Full month numbers will be available next week.
Deter’s data previously showed 430 square kilometers of deforestation occurred in January, more than four times the level in the same month last year. In February, it reached 199 square kilometres, a 62% increase from 2021.
The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world and a massive carbon sink. There is widespread concern that its destruction will not only release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, further complicating hopes for halting climate change, but also push it beyond the tipping point after which much of the forest will begin an irreversible process. From degradation to the tropics. Savannah.
Amazonas state led deforestation in April, overtaking Pará and Mato Grosso states for only the second time ever. This is particularly worrying, because Amazonas lie deep in the rainforest and have remained pristine relative to the so-called arc of deforestation along areas used for agriculture and livestock.
“Amazonas is still a very conservative country. If deforestation explodes there, we will lose control of an area outside the traditional deforestation zone,” Araujo, the former head of Brazil’s environment regulator, said by phone.
The destruction of Amazonas has centered in the southern part of the state, where President Jair Bolsonaro has promised to pave a 400 km (250 mi) dirt road of the BR-319 highway linking the cities of Manaus and Porto Felho. The expectation of paving sparked real estate speculation along the highway. Land grabbers engage in large-scale deforestation with the expectation that areas will become legal for farming or livestock in the future.
A study released last week by BR-319 Observatory, a nonprofit environmental network, revealed a nearly 3,000 km (more than 1,800 mi) secondary road network within reach of the highway. The roads are mainly used to reach the desired areas by kidnappers and loggers.
Historically, the opening and paving of highways was the main driver of Amazon deforestation. Easier access increases the value of the land and makes economic activities, especially livestock farming, viable.
We need a regional development model that is compatible with environmental protection. The solution, Araujo said, is not just paving roads. He said that governance needs to change completely, but the opposite is happening. “The Amazon is controlled by landowners, illegal logging and miners. Crime is the truth.”
AOQ