Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 30.6% between August 2023 and July 2024after an additional 22.3% in the previous period, as reported by the current government of the country through observation from space.
Although this seems like good news, deforestation continuesbut at a slower rate, with an area affected by logging that was 6,288 square kilometers.
Less deforestation
The “positive” of this balance is that the surface represents the lowest deforestation result in the Amazon in nine years and represents a reduction from the 9,001 square kilometers destroyed in the previous period.
The measurements were carried out by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE) and are part of the report that the institution publishes each year through the Project for satellite monitoring of deforestation in the legal Amazon (Prodes).
45% drop
If we add the last two results, which mainly correspond to the mandate of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a 45.7% drop in logging and 7,900 square kilometers of jungle were saved.
Brazilian authorities reported that deforestation in the Amazon decreased by 30.6% last year, becoming the period in which the percentage decline is greater over the last 15 years.
Reduction of emissions
In the Cerrado, as the tropical savannah located in central Brazil is called, the rate of deforestation for this period was 8,174 square kilometers, lowest since 2019which represents a decrease of 25.7 percent compared to the previous cycle.
On the side of the Brazilian government, they emphasize that This is the first decline in this area after five years of increase in an ecosystem who lives under constant pressure from the agricultural sector.
With this progress, there has been a reduce greenhouse gas emissions of 400.8 million tonnes of CO₂ and deforestation in the Amazon and the Cerrado compared to the 2021-2022 cycle.
More control and sanctions
According to the authorities, the drop recorded is the result “among other actions” of the intensification of the application of environmental standards, so that with this reduction production has also resumed. environmental governance.
The Government attributed the decline in deforestation to heavy-handed enforcement of environmental regulations, with a 98% increase in sanctions and embargoes imposed by the Brazilian Environmental Institute to offenders.
Protection of indigenous lands
Likewise, in these tasks of protecting the lung of the planet The approval and protection of indigenous lands, which were expanded by 8,100 square kilometers, and conservation areas, of 3,030 square kilometers, also contributed.
“We achieved important results last year and again this year, a very significant result. A contribution for us and for the world, in a context where andThe problem of climate change is an overwhelming reality“, declared the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, during a press conference during which she cited extreme climatic phenomena such as floods in Spain or frosts in Africa.
New satellites
The Brazilian government, moreover, Satellite image resolution improved this year used to monitor logging and incorporated radar technology, which allows territory to be tracked when the sky is covered in clouds.
Furthermore, by 2025 it is planned to launch of two satellitesthe Golds-UFSC and Conasat-1 cubesats which will be the first Brazilian satellites launched from the Alcântara center, in Maranhão (MA).
The satellites will have different applications such as weather forecasting, studies of ocean currents and tides, atmospheric chemistry, agricultural planning, river basin monitoring, river and rainfall data, monitoring of fishing boat routes, etc.
