Amazon deforestation alerts down 66% in August
Deforestation alerts in the Legal Amazon fell by 66.11 percent in August from the same period last year. The data come from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and were released by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change on Tuesday (Sep. 5), Amazon Day. The result was celebrated by Minister Marina Silva during an event held at the Planalto presidential palace to unveil new measures to protect the biome.
“In the first seven months of this government, we saw a 42 percent reduction in deforestation [in the Amazon]. Compared to the same period last year, that’s a victory. In August, we had a 66.11 percent reduction in deforestation and a 47.5 percent reduction in the number of hotspots in the Amazon compared to August 2022,” the minister said.
The Legal Amazon encompasses the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, and Tocantins, plus a section of Maranhão—adding up to nearly 60 percent of Brazil’s territory.
The environment minister also mentioned the 42 percent decrease in deforestation in the Atlantic forest from January to May and 79.7 percent in June, as per figures from the SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation. In the cerrado, she went on, figures show a reversal of the deforestation trend seen in recent months.
“The cerrado was on a very strong deforestation trend. Now we have the signs of good news. We’re reaching balance and pushing the curve down thanks to a partnership with the state governments,” she noted.
Amazon Day
At an event to commemorate Amazon Day, attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the government announced new protection measures, including the recognition of two indigenous lands and the allocation of public territories for new conservation units.
“The Amazon is in a hurry to survive the devastation caused by people who don’t want to see the future. The Amazon is in a hurry to stay alive, stay healthy, and have the strength to face the droughts that climate change has begun to bring,” President Lula declared.
In the same vein, Marina Silva pointed out that, because more than 60 percent of the Amazon is within its territory, the future of humanity and the world’s living conditions depend on Brazil. “It’s not excessive patriotism. It’s a realistic, even scientific realization of the enormous responsibility that weighs on the society and the governments of Brazil. If we fail to protect the forest and its peoples, we will condemn the world to a brutal increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and rising temperatures,” she declared.
Rising against deforestation
At the ceremony, President Lula highlighted the allocation of BRL 600 million from the Amazon Fund to strategic municipalities in the fight against deforestation and forest fires, starting in 2025. He advocated dialog, especially with mayors, in a bid to have engaged.
“It’s important that we bring the mayors together in cities throughout the Amazon, so that we don’t have them as enemies, but as partners in the fight against deforestation,” he said.
