Deforestation doubled in the Cerrado in September, says institute

Deforestation in the Cerrado grew 60.5% in September this year compared to the same month in 2022.

The information comes from the Cerrado Deforestation Alert System (SAD-Cerrado), which was updated, this Thursday (19), by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam) based on images obtained via satellite from the European Space Agency .

According to monitoring, the affected area in September 2023 is 83 thousand hectares. In 2022, 51.4 thousand were registered. The 2023 data represents 242% more than what was recorded two years ago, in September, in 2021.

With September, the accumulated deforestation of the Cerrado in Brazil in 2023 reaches 742 hectares. This number represents an increase of 20.9% compared to that recorded in the same period in 2022, of 613,274 hectares.

The most affected area is in Matopiba

“Matopiba” is the name of a grain growing area that encompasses cities in the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia. And it was exactly this area that concentrated deforestation in the Cerrado in September 2023.

Of the 83 thousand hectares of native vegetation felled, 62.2 thousand — that is, around 75% — were in Matopiba.

Of the ten municipalities with the highest number of alerts, nine are in Maranhão. Regarding the cities with the largest deforested area, the first three are in Bahia, while another four are in Maranhão, one in Tocantins and another in Piauí.

Beyond Matopiba

Matopiba concentrated the largest deforested area, and, meanwhile, other states also saw an increase in the devastation of the biome. Minas Gerais is one of the highlights as the first state outside the region to appear in the ranking of federation units with the highest deforestation in the Cerrado.

According to Ipam, 5.3 thousand hectares were felled in the biome in the state of Minas Gerais in September 2023. This figure represents 140% more than what was recorded in the same month last year. The annual accumulation for 2023 already exceeds 46.2 thousand hectares.

Next are Goiás (4.1 thousand hectares in September 2023), Mato Grosso (3.3 thousand hectares) and Mato Grosso do Sul (3.1 thousand hectares).

Source: CNN Brasil

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