Deforestation in Amazon forest up by 57% than last year, highest annual level in 10 years

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in 10 years. Imazon, a research centre that monitors the forest through satellite images since 2008, has informed that the figure is 57 per cent higher than the previous year. From August 2020 to July 2021, the rainforest lost 10,476 square kilometres.

The area is bigger than the city of Sao Paulo and represents the decade’s worst index for July, according to Imazon. In July, 2,095 square kilometres of the area was deforested. The figures show that it is 80 per cent more than in the same month in 2020. In the last 12 months, deforestation is highest since 2012. The figures show that from August 2019 to July 2020, the rainforest lost 6,688 square kilometres. Earlier in July, Imazon had revealed that deforestation in the Amazon from January to June had hit the highest in a decade. 

Carlos Souza, a researcher at Imazon informed that "deforestation is still out of control", reported The Guardian. Souza added that Brazil was not following the global climate agenda that sought to "reduce greenhouse emissions". Souza urged the government to stop the deconstruction that included enforcement of illegal deforestation in the region. In an effort to stop deforestation, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has deployed soldiers to combat illegal deforestation, as per The Guardian report.

Marcio Astrini, the executive-secretary of the organisation Climate Observatory, told The Guardian that the figures show that the policy has proved ineffective. Astrini added that the forces would not be able to stop the attacks on the forests. Astrini further warned that the deforestation rates in 2021 are expected to be about 50 per cent higher than in 2018. 

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