Nearly 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of rainforest were cleared in July, a significant fall from the 1,487 square kilometers (574 square miles) cleared last July.
There has been a sharp decline in deforestation since Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was inaugurated as president in January.
Brazil’s environment minister, Marina Silva, said government policies, including increasing surveillance and fining perpetrators, has played a big role in bringing rates of deforestation down.
The reduced rate of deforestation is positive news at a time when the Amazon remains critically vulnerable.
In 2022 an area of global tropical forest the size of Switzerland was lost as forest destruction rose by 10% compared to the previous year, according to a recent report from the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch.
Persons:
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lula, Jair, Marina Silva, ” Silva, Moraes Almeida, Nelson Almedia
Organizations:
CNN, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, Getty, Resources, Watch
Locations:
Brazilian, Para, Brazil, AFP, Belem, Switzerland