Fatshimetrie: Forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon fell 30.6% from a year earlier, officials said Wednesday, reaching the lowest level of destruction in nine years.
Over a 12-month period, the Amazon rainforest lost 6,288 square kilometers (2,428 square miles), about the size of the U.S. state of Delaware.
The dramatic decline contrasts sharply with the approach of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who favored agribusiness expansion over forest protection and weakened environmental agencies. During his tenure, deforestation hit a 15-year high.
Deforestation in Brazil’s vast savannah, known as the Cerrado, fell 25.7%, the first decline in five years. The area destroyed reached 8,174 square kilometers (3,156 square miles), located in central Brazil, the savannah is the most biodiverse in the world but has fewer legal protections than the Amazon.
Despite success in reducing deforestation in the Amazon, Lula’s government has been criticized by environmentalists for supporting projects that could harm the region, such as paving a highway through an area of primary forest, oil drilling at the mouth of the Amazon River and building a railway to transport soybeans to Amazon ports.
Brazil’s deforestation tracking system monitors from August 1 to July 30, so Wednesday’s report does not capture the destruction of recent months, when a historic drought has set the stage for a surge in wildfires that have burned an area larger than Switzerland.
Much of the damage from the fires is classified as degradation, not logging, because fire in the Amazon rainforest spreads mainly through leaves on the ground, not through treetops. The full impact will be assessed in the coming months through more extensive satellite tracking.
Officials already fear that the rate of deforestation could increase next year, as the Amazonian city of Belém prepares to host the annual United Nations climate talks, known as COP30.
The Amazon, an area twice the size of India, is home to the world’s largest rainforest, about two-thirds of which is in Brazil. It stores huge amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that drives climate change, helping to slow global warming faster than it otherwise would.
The Amazon Basin also contains about 20% of the world’s fresh water, and its biodiversity includes 16,000 known tree species. This precious ecosystem deserves to be preserved and protected for future generations.