Deforestation in Amazon’s protected areas plummets 73%
Deforestation in the protected areas of the Amazon forest fell by 73 percent in 2023 compared to 2022. According to a survey released by the Institute of Man and the Environment of the Amazon (Imazon), devastation in indigenous lands and conservation units in the region reached 386 km² in 2023—the lowest rate since 2013, when 178 km² were deforested.
In 2022, Imazon reported, deforestation of protected areas in the region reached 1,431 km², a figure close to levels observed since 2019, when the start of an upward trend continuing until 2022 was noticed.
The monitoring was carried out with the help of satellite images from Imazon. The reduction observed in 2023 was said to have “surpassed the overall drop in deforestation,” which was down 62 percent between 2022 (10,573 km²) and 2023 (4,030 km²).
“The sharp reduction […] is highly positive, as these are territories that require priority in efforts to combat deforestation. This is because devastation within indigenous lands and conservation units usually means illegal invasions that lead to conflicts with the traditional communities living in these territories,” Carlos Souza, coordinator of Imazon’s Amazon Monitoring Program, argued.
Imazon, however, warns there is a worrying aspect to the degradation seen in 2023: It may be related to drought and fires in the region, since “in the last month of the year, while 108 km² were deforested, another 1,050 km² were degraded—nearly 10 times as much.”
Indigenous lands
Despite the general drop, researcher Carlos Souza noted, some protected areas have witnessed a rise in destruction, which is why they should be the focus of urgent action in 2024.
“One of the most critical situations facing indigenous lands occurred in Igarapé Lage, in Rondônia, where deforestation grew by 300 percent—from 2 km² in 2022 to 8 km² in 2023, an area equivalent to 800 football fields. This made the territory the third most devastated in the Amazon in 2023,” the institute reported.
Two other indigenous areas located on the border between Amazonas and Roraima also showed significant growth in deforestation, namely the Waimiri Atroari territories, whose forest loss rose from 1 km² in 2022 to 4 km² in 2023 (up 300 percent), and Yanomami, where devastation rose from 2 km² in 2022 to 5 km² in 2023 (up 150 percent).
“This made the Yanomami territory the fifth most deforested in the Amazon in 2023, even after receiving a humanitarian operation in January last year on account of the social damage caused by the invasion of gold miners. The Waimiri Atroari, on the other hand, came ninth,” the survey said.
The largest area destroyed in an indigenous territory last year was recorded in the Apyterewa territory, where 13 km² were deforested. “Despite topping the ranking, the site saw an 85 percent reduction in devastation, as in 2022 it had lost 88 km² of forest. In October, the site received a removal operation to drive out illegal invaders,” says Imazon.
The total of indigenous lands devastated in 2023 came to 104 km². According to the institute, this figure is less than half of the one recorded in 2022 (217 km²). The year in which the smallest area of indigenous land was deforested was 2014 (28 km²).
Conservation units
Conservation units saw a 77 percent shrinkage, from 1,214 km² in 2022 to 282 km² in 2023. The institute pointed out that this was the smallest area of forest destroyed in these types of territories in nine years, since 2014.
“The greatest reduction occurred in territories under federal jurisdiction, where deforestation fell from 468 km² to 97 km², down 79 percent. In state-level areas, devastation went from 746 km² to 185 km², 75%,” the document reads.
