Amazon rainforest lost land equal to 8.4 million football pitches in 10 years

The estimated deforestation of the Amazon rainforest over the past decade is equivalent to nearly 8.4 million football pitches. The Royal Statistical Society announced Amazon deforestation as it Statistics of the Decade which is based on the monitoring results from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research and FIFA's regulations on pitch dimensions. The rainforests, which are more popularly known as 'planet's lungs' have suffered land scrapping for big businesses, and are now used by the palm oil industry, cattle ranching and for logging. 

Chair of the judging panel and RSS vice-president for external affairs, Professor Jennifer Rogers said in an official statement that the forests are shrinking at an alarming rate and the statistics have revealed yet another hugely important environmental issue. Rogers further added that this was the 'decades' worst examples of environmental degradation'. 

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According to the official website, Rogers commented, “Irreplaceable rainforests like the Amazon are shrinking at an alarming rate and this statistic gives a very powerful visual of a hugely important environmental issue. Much has been discussed regarding the environment in the last few years and the judging panel felt this statistic was highly effective in capturing one of the decade’s worst examples of environmental degradation.”

Read - China, Brazil Launch Jointly Developed Satellite To Monitor Amazon Rainforest

China, Brazil to monitor forests

A jointly developed earth satellite by China and Brazil was launched in space to monitor the Amazon rainforest. The China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite-4A (CBERS-4A) was launched on a Long March-4B rocket under the bilateral programme according to the Chinese news agency. This is also the sixth series of satellites which has been developed by China and Brazil under the technological cooperation which reportedly began in 1988. The recent satellite has been developed to observe the non-military use on earth and Amazon rainforest along with other environmental changes. 

The CBERS-1, first of the series, was launched on October 14, 1999, remained functional until August 2003. The observation of Amazon forests is of utmost significance since the rampant deforestation due to wildfires. The deforestation in the area has crossed the mark of 10,000 square kilometres within a year, which is also the highest in more than a decade. 

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