Deforestation alerts in the Brazilian Amazon reach their highest level for the month in February

Deforestation alerts in the Brazilian Amazon reached their highest level for the month in February since the beginning of the historical series, which began in 2016, according to the alerts registered by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).

Inpe recorded a total of 199 square kilometers of deforestation last month, which represents an increase of 62% compared to the same period of the previous year.

Between January and February, 629 square kilometers of forests were felled, more than triple that recorded in the first two months of 2021 (206 square kilometers), despite the fact that it is a period where deforestation is usually lower due to the rains in the region.

According to Inpe, the alerts indicate a trend and serve to alert environmental prosecutors about where to focus their efforts in the fight to protect the biome, threatened by both deforestation and fires.

After the publication of the data, the spokesman for the Amazon of Greenpeace Brazil, Romulo Batista, stressed that the “absurd” increased destruction “demonstrates the results of a policy to combat deforestation and environmental crimes in the region, promoted by the current government.”

Deforestation figures have skyrocketed since President Jair Bolsonaro came to power, a supporter of the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest for economic purposes and the end of the demarcation of indigenous lands.

Official data indicates that between August 2020 and July 2021, this biome lost 13,235 square kilometers of vegetation, the largest degraded area for a 12-month period in the last 15 years.

Deforestation, caused mainly by illegal mining and the illicit trade of wood, is one of the main causes of the fires that have consumed part of the vegetation of the Amazon in Brazil in recent years and that caused shock throughout the world two years ago.