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BRASILIA, Brazil , Aug 13 (AP) \u2014 Preliminary government data released on Friday indicates annual deforestation in Brazil\u2019s Amazon may have surpassed 10,000 square kilometers (3,861 square miles) for the third straight year, continuing a worrisome jump since President Jair Bolsonaro assumed office.<\/p>\n
The area deforested from August to July \u2013 the 12-month period that is Brazil\u2019s reference \u2013 was 8,793 square kilometers, just below last year\u2019s record, according to daily alerts compiled by the National Institute for Space Research\u2019s Deter monitoring system.<\/p>\n
That data is considered a leading indicator for complete calculations released near year end from the more accurate system, Prodes. It uses at least four different satellites to capture images, addressing oversights in preliminary data caused by lower resolution and cloud cover.<\/p>\n
M\u00e1rcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a network of environmental nonprofit groups, told The Associated Press that he anticipates the final tally will land right around 10,000 square kilometers.<\/p>\n
Before Bolsonaro\u2019s term began in 2019, the Brazilian Amazon hadn\u2019t recorded a single year with that much deforestation in over a decade and, between 2009 and 2018, the average was 6,500 square kilometers. The far-right president has encouraged development of the biome and dismissed global handwringing about its destruction as a plot to hold back the nation\u2019s agribusiness. At the same time, his administration defanged environmental authorities and legislative measures to loosen land protections have advanced, emboldening land grabbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn two and a half years, the Bolsonaro government has managed to provoke a situation of destruction and chaos in the environment,\u201d Suely Araujo, a former president of the environmental regulator, Ibama, told The Associated Press. \u201cA group of factors is delegitimizing enforcement. There is an anti-policy that has no way of going right.\u201d<\/p>\n
More recently, Brazil\u2019s government has been trying to improve its environmental credibility with the U.S. As a presidential candidate last year, Joe Biden proposed countries provide Brazil with $20 billion to fight deforestation. His presidential administration has since made clear it would only be willing to contribute once Brazil shows concrete progress, and talks have stalled.<\/p>\n
During the U.S.-led climate summit in April, Bolsonaro shifted his tone on Amazon preservation and exhibited willingness to step up commitment. And, in late June, he issued a decree returning soldiers to the Amazon to bolster policing against logging and other illegal land clearance \u2013 even as environmental groups allege the mobilization is mostly symbolic, given troops are ill-prepared to conduct oversight.<\/p>\n
Vice President Hamilton Mour\u00e3o, who leads the nation\u2019s Amazon Council, said he aimed to cut deforestation by 10% this year. He acknowledged on Aug. 2 that perhaps only half that goal would be attained, an amount he told reporters was \u201cvery small, very paltry, but some progress.\u2033<\/p>\n
Deter data show a 5% decrease from the prior year. Greenpeace senior forest campaigner Cristiane Mazzetti told The Associated Press she expects the complete Prodes data to show deforestation exceeded 10,000 square kilometers in 2020-2021.<\/p>\n
Mazzetti highlighted the advance of bills like one, presented last year, that would increase the size of public lands that can be made legal for private ownership without in-person surveys from authorities. Derided by environmentalists as \u201cthe land grabbing bill,\u201d it is has broad support from Bolsonaro-allied lawmakers and those who champion agribusiness, and was approved by the lower house last week.<\/p>\n
It is yet another signal to those who invade public lands and clear pasture that they will be not only pardoned, but also compensated for their crimes, Mazzetti said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen deforestation was reduced years ago, it became common to deforest smaller areas, because the deforesters tried to evade the satellites. Today, that doesn\u2019t happen anymore,\u2033 she said. \u201cWe have the return of big deforesters, in areas bigger than 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) being opened up. That shows there is no longer any intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s national security adviser Jake Sullivan visited Brazil last week and met with three governors from Brazil\u2019s nine Amazonian states. One of them, Para\u2019s Gov. H\u00e9lder Barbalho, told the AP that Sullivan spoke of the U.S. intent to help Brazil with investments in a new model of sustainable development, but that the American envoy didn\u2019t specify amounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe emphasized the need to value the standing forest with implementation of sustainable agribusiness, making it so that (the forest) becomes an economic asset,\u201d Barbalho said. \u201cFor that, we need a solid partnership for investments in cutting-edge technology and payment of subsidies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Para accounted for 39% of deforestation from 2020 to 2021, according to Deter data, the most of any Amazonian state.<\/p>\n
While in the capital Brasilia, Sullivan didn\u2019t meet with Brazil\u2019s environment minister, whose predecessor Ricardo Salles resigned in June amid sharp criticism of his tenure and two investigations into his actions involving allegedly illegal timber operations. Salles has denied all wrongdoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRASILIA, Brazil , Aug 13 (AP) \u2014 Preliminary government data released on Friday indicates annual deforestation in Brazil\u2019s Amazon may have surpassed 10,000 square kilometers (3,861 square miles) for the third straight year, continuing a worrisome jump since President Jair Bolsonaro assumed office. The area deforested from August to July \u2013 the 12-month period that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-169065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}