This destruction is essentially the work of farmers who want to increase their lands for crops and livestock, activities the former President has always encouraged the development of.
According to official statistics released on Friday, January 6, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by 150% in December, the final month of Jair Bolsonaro’s tenure, compared to December 2021. In the Brazilian part (60%) of the world’s largest rainforest, 218.4 km2 of forest was cleared last month, according to the DETER monitoring program, according to satellite images.
According to the government agency INPE, the deforested area represents an increase of more than 150% compared to the 87.2 km2 destroyed in December 2021. This is the third-worst December since the DETER program started, after those of 2017 and 2015.
Lula’s promise
Jair Bolsonaro, who was replaced by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last Sunday, has unleashed an avalanche of international criticism during his four-year tenure for his destruction of the Amazon rainforest, vital to the fight against global warming.
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Under the government of the right-wing populist president, who is allied with the powerful agribusiness lobby, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by 75.5% compared to the previous decade. “Bolsonaro’s mandate may be over, but his tragic legacy will long be felt,” Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a coalition of climate protection groups, said in a statement.
Year-round in 2022, deforestation reached or approached record levels between August and October, the auspicious time of the dry season. This destruction of the forest is essentially the work of peasants who want to increase their land for crops and livestock, activities that Jair Bolsonaro always encouraged to develop. Lula has promised to restart environmental protection and surveillance programs that were largely dismantled under his predecessor. The international community is expecting strong gestures from the new president, who has appointed ecology icon Marina Silva as environment minister.