Deforestation in the Amazon falls 30.6% in one year
Deforestation in the Legal Amazon from August 2023 to July 2024 reached 6,288km²—down 30.6 percent from 2022–2023, the National Institute for Space Research reported Wednesday (Nov. 6).
The data come from the Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Legal Amazon by Satellite, a system maintained by the institute that calculates annual forest suppression in the nine states that make up the Legal Amazon.
The result is the lowest percentage of deforestation in 15 years, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change noted. In terms of deforested area, the figure measured now in the Amazon is the lowest since 2015 (6,207km²).
The monitoring is carried out from August of one year to July of the following year, between the forest's driest seasons, and is considered the most reliable result by scientists, as satellite detection reaches an accuracy of 10m on clear-cutting and deforestation stemming from progressive degradation, like fires.
“We had important results last year and this year,” said Minister for the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva, when announcing the results to the press at the Planalto presidential palace. She also stressed that, over the last two years, deforestation in the Amazon fell by 45 percent.
“A contribution to ourselves and to the world, in a context where the problem of climate change is an overwhelming reality,” she went on to say, citing extreme weather events such as frosts in Africa, floods in Spain, and heat waves in other European countries.
Regarding Brazilian states, the best rate of reduction was measured in Rondônia—a 62.5 percent drop in deforestation, followed by Mato Grosso (-45.1%), according to the institute. Pará (-28.4%) and Amazonas (-29%) were also on the wane. Roraima, on the other hand, saw a 53 percent increase in deforestation over the last span analyzed.
Of the 70 municipalities with the highest priority for combating deforestation in the Amazon, 78 percent saw a reduction in forest clearing, the ministry stated. Another 23 percent saw a surge forest clearing.
The reduction in deforestation in the Amazon made it possible, the federal government said, for 359 million tons of carbon dioxide to refrain from being emitted into the atmosphere.
Demands
The drop in deforestation was celebrated by nonprofits, but they call for further improvements.
“A significant shrinkage in deforestation in the Amazon for the third consecutive year is undoubtedly good news, but it is not enough, given the magnitude of the climate and biodiversity preservation challenges we are facing. If we want to avoid the worst scenarios of extreme events in the country—such as what happened in Rio Grande do Sul and the fires in the pantanal—we need to ensure that the fall in deforestation is maintained and accelerated in the coming years,” said WWF-Brasil’s Strategy Director Mariana Napolitano.
