Deforestation in the Amazon has reached an alarming new level in the last three years. According to the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (Ipam) the felling of trees in the biome was 56.6% higher between August 2018 and July 2021 than in the same period from 2015 to 2018.
The data were published this Wednesday (2) and reveal the evident progress in the second half of 2018, as a result of the presidential elections that year. According to the researchers, the effect tends to repeat itself in 2022.
According to the study, more than half (51%) of deforestation in the last three years took place on public lands, mainly (83%) in federally owned areas.
In absolute terms, the so-called Non-Intended Public Forests (FPND) were the most affected: they rose by 85% in the deforested area, from 1,743 km² felled annually to more than 3,228 km².
In the last year, this category of public forest concentrated a third of all deforestation in the Amazon biome.
According to Ipam, these dense forests are scattered in different parts of the Amazon and play a fundamental role in the climate and water balance at local, regional and global scales.
Indigenous lands and conservation units also face high deforestation
In proportion to the area of the territories, indigenous lands (TIs) had an average increase of 153% in deforestation compared to the last triennium (1,255 km²) to the previous one (496 km²).
Deforestation in conservation units (UCs) had a proportional increase of 63.7%, with 3,595 km² felled in the last three years against 2,195 km² in the previous three years.
One of the most affected regions mentioned in the study is the Amacro border, between Amazonas, Acre and Rondônia, characterized as the new frontier of deforestation in the biome.
The state of Amazonas even went from third to second position as the state that most deforested the Amazon.
Amazonas is second only to Pará, the state where the most critical areas of forest loss are found, and which has been in first place since 2017, the study points out.
THE CNN contacted the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), the Ministry of the Environment and Vice-President Hamilton Mourão, who heads the Amazon Council, and is awaiting opinions.
Source: CNN Brasil
