Brazil's Amazon deforestation hits April record, nearly double previous peak

Record ID: 1671633

  • Title: Brazil's Amazon deforestation hits April record, nearly double previous peak
  • Date: 6th May 2022
  • Summary: BRASILIA, BRAZIL (MAY 6, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) DIRECTOR OF SCIENCE AT AMAZON ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ANE ALENCAR, SAYING: “The high rates of deforestation in the Amazon in April are indecent. It seems that the felling of the jungle in our country has become institutionalized as something ordinary, with record after record. And even more so in a pre-campaign moment.”
  • Embargoed: 20th May 2022 19:29
  • Keywords: Amazon deforestation Brazil Greenpeace deforestation environment
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Environment,South America / Central America,Nature/Wildlife
  • Reuters ID: LVA002630006052022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon surged to record levels for the month of April, nearly doubling the area of forest removed in that month last year -- the previous April record -- preliminary government data showed on Friday (May 6), alarming environmental campaigners.
    In the first 29 days of April, deforestation in the region totalled 1,012.5 sq km (390 miles), according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The agency, which has compiled the monthly DETER-B data series since 2015/2016, will report data for the final day of April next week.
    April is the third monthly record this year after new highs were also observed in January and February.
    Destruction of the Brazilian Amazon in the first four months of the year also hit a record for the period of 1,954 sq km (754 miles), an increase of 69% compared to the same period of 2021 – clearing an area more than double the size of New York City.
    Deforestation in the Amazon has soared since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019 and weakened environmental protection. Bolsonaro argues that more farming and mining in the Amazon will reduce poverty in the region.
    Even with deforestation already on the rise, Climate Observatory said its analysts were astounded by such a high reading in April, which is part of the rainy season when the muddy forest is harder for loggers to access.
    Preservation of the Amazon is vital to stopping catastrophic climate change because of the vast amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide it absorbs.
    Ane Alencar, Director of Science at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), said she had expected deforestation to keep rising ahead of the October presidential election, like it has in Brazil's past three election years, as officials wary of angering voters generally do less to enforce the law. Still, she called the surge in deforestation last month "absurd."
    "It seems that the felling of the jungle in our country has become institutionalized as something ordinary, with record after record," Alencar said.
    (Production: Leandra Camera, Sergio Queiroz, Sergio Rodriguez)
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