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This year, the destruction of the world’s largest rainforest increased 9.5 percent from 2019 to 11,088 square kilometers (2.7 million acres), according to data from Brazil’s national space research agency INPE.
The grim update came after there were hints that it wouldn’t be good news for Amazon earlier in the year.
In September, INPE scientists revealed that official data had been miscalculated and that the number of fires in the Brazilian Amazon had increased since 2019, placing them at the highest level in a decade.
Destruction has skyrocketed since President Jair Bolsonaro took office and weakened environmental law enforcement. The Brazilian government press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The independent.
An increase in fires in August 2019 to a maximum of nine years prompted protests from world leaders and the public that Brazil was not doing enough to protect the world’s largest rainforest, and Bolsonaro exchanged criticism with the French president. , Emmanuel Macron.
Environmental defenders and scientists say Bolsonaro is to blame for weakening environmental protections and calling for the development of the Amazon. He has been an enthusiastic leader of illegal miners, ranchers, and loggers venturing into one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet and home to thousands of indigenous peoples.
Bolsonaro, a climate denier, insisted this summer that there were no fires in the Amazon rainforest, calling the evidence produced by his own government showing thousands of fires a “lie”.
In July, the Brazilian government instituted a three-month “moratorium” on fires in the Amazon following the deployment of troops at the beginning of the year to prevent fires from starting. The movements appear to have been ineffective.
The Amazon absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide and scientists say its protection is vital to curbing the climate crisis.
INPE posted a note on its website on August 19 saying that there had been a problem with NASA’s Aqua satellite generating the fire data and as a consequence the data was incomplete as of August 16.
NASA has also posted notices on its website warning of problems with the satellite.
Dr. Setzer said that Inpe has been looking for alternative data sources to correct the problem, estimating that it may take one to two weeks for the final data to be published.
Once the almost completely missing data for the Amazon was corrected for Aug. 16, along with the smaller differences generated by the missing data for the northern Amazon since then, the final number should show a slight increase, he said. .
Reuters contributed to this report
