Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon set a record for the month of February, some two months after Brazilian President Lula da Silva took office, according to official data released this Saturday.
The satellite monitoring system detected 209 square kilometers destroyed in the Brazilian part of the largest tropical forest in the world, according to preliminary data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) system.
The area, equivalent to more than 29,000 soccer fields, only includes data collected up to February 17, but it already surpassed the previous record of 199 square kilometers destroyed in the entire month of February 2022, the last year of the previous government. -President Jair Bolsonaro.
Satellite monitoring had registered a 61% drop in January, compared to the same period in 2022. But environmental organizations warned it was premature to talk of a “trend change” as observations may have been hampered by increased cloudiness
Under the Bolsonaro government, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by 75.5% over the previous decade.
This destruction is mainly due to farmers wanting to increase their land for crops and livestock, activities that Jair Bolsonaro has always encouraged.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 77, took office as Brazil’s president in early January for the third time, making forest protection one of his priorities.
Marina Silva, a renowned environmentalist, was chosen to head the Ministry of the Environment, having already been responsible for this portfolio between 2003 and 2008, when Brazil managed to significantly reduce deforestation.
Source: TSF
