Brazil’s Amazon rainforest deforestation had risen to more than 80% in August compared to the previous year. This is shown by preliminary government data. The country is fighting wildfires at a record level this year.
The burning season started this month, and the national space research agency Inpe issued 33,116 fire alerts. That makes the second-worst score in the last decade.
Brazilian farmers cut down the forests and deliberately set trees on fire to clear the land. It is not uncommon for these fires to run out of control.
Deforestation increased by 81% in a year span
Satellite data shows that 7,135 square kilometers were deforested in the Amazon region. And it was only for the first half of this year. This is 19% more than the same period last year. The data were published by the Brazilian national space research agency.
According to Inpe data, last month alone, deforestation encompassed 1,661 square kilometers. It is an 81% increase from the same month year before.
Would elections solve the problem of deforestation?
For this situation, environmental activists blame far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro scaled-down environmental supervision during his term. He insisted on more commercial farming and mining in the Amazon. His reason was that it reduces poverty.
Bolsonaro’s statements and political position toward environmental issues provoked rage in the country and abroad. Amazon is the lungs of the Earth and is of great importance for slowing global warming.
Deforestation in the Amazon region is out of control
The Brazilian branch of Greenpeace claims that deforestation in the Amazon region is out of control. The Greenpeace activists say Amazon is at the point when it might stop being a rainforest. If this happens, that will be disastrous for the climate on a global level. Also, this will ruin biodiversity.
Climate campaigners hope that in the elections on October 2, Bolsonaro’s policy is going to lose the support of the voters. They hope that the leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may win. Expectations are he will struggle to overturn the situation in the Amazon rainforest for the better. Yet, it is to expect the problems caused by greed and negligence to stay for a long.