Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rose again in July, after declining for 15 consecutive months in the world’s largest tropical forest, the Brazilian government said Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil, the country that houses 60% of the surface of this forest, In July, 666 square kilometers were registered under deforestation alert in the Amazon.
This value represents a increase of 33% compared to the same month in 2023.
On the other hand, in the Cerrado, Brazil’s second largest biome, 444 kilometers were recorded under alert in July, a drop of 26.7% compared to the same period in 2023.
The data presented come from the National Institute for Space Research’s Deter-B system, an indication of annual deforestation rate trends, always taken from August to July.
In this cumulative period from August 2023 to July 2024, deforestation in the Amazon registered a decrease of 45.7%, compared to the period from August 2022 to July 2023, the Brazilian Government detailed, adding that this is “the largest proportional drop ever recorded for the period” since 2016.
In June, Brazilian President Lula da Silva announced new investments to accelerate the creation of a security centre in the Amazon that will be made up of all countries in the region and international police organisations.
The future Amazon Centre for International Police Cooperation (CPPI) will be based in the Brazilian city of Manaus and will include agents from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, which share the Amazon region, as well as organisations such as Interpol, Ameripol and Europol.
The investment will be part of a security plan for the Amazon announced last year, which aims, among other objectives, to provide CPPI with the necessary equipment to combat illegal mining, timber smuggling, drug and human trafficking, among other transnational crimes.
Source: Observadora
