Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon skyrockets to 12-year high under Bolsonaro
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
February 05, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2023
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon skyrockets to 12-year high under Bolsonaro

Environment

Reuters
01 December, 2020, 09:05 am
Last modified: 01 December, 2020, 09:09 am

Related News

  • Google, Apple, Amazon give investors reason to fret
  • Brazil's Lula accuses Bolsonaro of preparing 8 Jan 'coup'
  • Brazil's Bolsonaro applies for 6-month US visitor visa
  • Brazil police raid Bolsonaro nephew's home in uprising probe
  • One third of Amazon 'degraded' by human activity, drought: study

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon skyrockets to 12-year high under Bolsonaro

Destruction of the world's largest rainforest rose 9.5% from a year earlier to 11,088 square kilometers (2.7 million acres) in 2020

Reuters
01 December, 2020, 09:05 am
Last modified: 01 December, 2020, 09:09 am
An aerial view shows a tree at the center of a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
An aerial view shows a tree at the center of a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest surged to a 12-year high in 2020, official government data showed on Monday, with destruction soaring since President Jair Bolsonaro took office and weakened environmental enforcement.

In 2020, destruction of the world's largest rainforest rose 9.5% from a year earlier to 11,088 square kilometers (2.7 million acres), according to data from Brazil's national space research agency Inpe, seven times the size of London.

That means Brazil will miss its own target, established under a 2009 climate change law, for reducing deforestation to roughly 3,900 square kilometers. The consequences for missing the target are not laid out in the law but could leave the government open to lawsuits.

The official annual measure, known as PRODES, is taken by comparing satellite images from the end of July 2020 with those from the beginning of August 2019. These dates are chosen to coincide with the Amazon's dry season, when there is less cloud cover to interfere with the calculations.

The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest and its protection is crucial to stopping catastrophic climate change because of the vast amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs.

The latest annual destruction is a substantial increase from the 7,536 square kilometers that were deforested in 2018, the year before Bolsonaro took office.

While environmentalists blamed the government for the rise, federal officials hailed the figures as a sign of progress in fighting deforestation, as the increase was far lower than the 34% increase recorded in 2019.

"While we are not here to celebrate this, it does signify that the efforts we are making are beginning to bear fruit," Vice President Hamilton Mourao told reporters at Inpe headquarters in the Sao Paulo satellite city of Sao Jose dos Campos.

Bolsonaro has weakened the environmental enforcement agency Ibama and called for introducing more commercial farming and mining in the Amazon region, arguing it will lift the region out of poverty. Environmental advocates say this has emboldened illegal ranchers, miners and land grabbers to clear the forest.

"The PRODES figures show that Bolsonaro's plan worked. They reflect the result of a successful initiative to annihilate the capacity of the Brazilian State and the inspection bodies to take care of our forests and fight crime in the Amazon," the Brazilian non-governmental organization Climate Observatory said in a statement.

The president's main policy response to global outcry over Amazon destruction has been to send in the military, who were first deployed in 2019 and are expected to remain in the region fighting deforestation and forest fires through April 2021.

Mourao said the government is planning further measures to combat deforestation after the military operation ends in April, without giving details. He said the government must work within its currently tight budget constraints.

More recently, deforestation declined in July to September compared with the same months a year ago, according to preliminary Inpe data, but was back on the rise in October.

European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron have fiercely criticized Brazil, arguing it is not doing enough to protect the forest. The election of Joe Biden as US president has raised the possibility that the United States will also ramp up pressure on Brazil over the rainforest.

Biden said in a debate that the world should offer Brazil money to fund efforts to stop deforestation, and threatened economic consequences against the Latin American nation if it did not. The comment drew fierce criticism from Bolsonaro, who said it was a threat against Brazil's sovereignty.

"Let's remember that the future (American) president knows our country," Mourao said on Monday, speaking about Biden. "He is a person with whom we will establish a dialogue at some point without major problems."

Top News / World+Biz

deforestation / Amazon / Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro / Jair Bolsonaro / Bolsonaro

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes
    ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes
  • Some tough tasks on the plate for Bangladesh Bank!
    Some tough tasks on the plate for Bangladesh Bank!
  • Influentials thwart Bangladesh's reform attempts: Economists
    Influentials thwart Bangladesh's reform attempts: Economists

MOST VIEWED

  • Concord launches new plant to produce environment-friendly brick
    Concord launches new plant to produce environment-friendly brick
  • Drive against air pollution: 26 vehicles, 10 companies fined Tk4.45 lakh
    Drive against air pollution: 26 vehicles, 10 companies fined Tk4.45 lakh
  • Photo: Collected
    HC asks for details of all hills in Chattogram
  • Photo: Collected
    Environment minister instructs special drives against air polluters from Wednesday
  • Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Mohammad Shahab Uddin
    Govt working to manage sustainable livelihoods for climate migrants: Minister
  • Photo: UNB
    DCs asked to stay vigilant about illegal sand extraction from rivers

Related News

  • Google, Apple, Amazon give investors reason to fret
  • Brazil's Lula accuses Bolsonaro of preparing 8 Jan 'coup'
  • Brazil's Bolsonaro applies for 6-month US visitor visa
  • Brazil police raid Bolsonaro nephew's home in uprising probe
  • One third of Amazon 'degraded' by human activity, drought: study

Features

Sketch: TBS

Say 'Salud' before your salad main course

15h | Food
Coots running. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Cute Coot of Baikka Beel: 'And yet he was as bald as a coot'

9h | Panorama
With only one government run specialised cancer hospital in the capital — the National Institute Of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) in Mohakhali — patients have no option but to resort to private hospitals. Photo: Noor A Alam.

Cancer care: Medical treatment and beyond

16h | Panorama
Andy Mukherjee. Sketch: TBS

What makes India's billionaires' support special for Adani

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Prioritise medical equipment, raw material imports over luxury items

Prioritise medical equipment, raw material imports over luxury items

7h | TBS Round Table
Adani row rocks India’s parliament

Adani row rocks India’s parliament

6h | TBS World
Concord launches new plant to produce environment friendly bricks

Concord launches new plant to produce environment friendly bricks

12h | TBS Stories
How Asif Khan would invest his fresh funds right now

How Asif Khan would invest his fresh funds right now

12h | TBS Markets

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

3
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

6
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net