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During the first four months of the year, the cut rate increased by 55 percent, compared to the same period last year, according to satellite images from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research.
“Unfortunately, it appears we can expect record fires and devastation this year,” Greenpeace spokesman Rômulo Batista writes in a statement.
Experts on concerns
In total, 1,202 square kilometers of forest were destroyed between January and April, an area that is more than 2.5 times the size of Gothenburg. It is the largest decomposed area at this time of year since measurements began in August 2015.
The fact that such large amounts of forest have been harvested so early in the year worries experts, as the peak season for forest harvesting usually begins only in late May.
– The beginning of the year is generally not the time of year when logging is taking place, because it is raining and it is raining a lot, says Erika Berenguer, an environmental scientist at the universities of Oxford and Lancaster.
Record fire caused
Last year, a total of 10,123 square kilometers of forest were cleared in the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest, an increase of 85 percent and the highest record so far in a year.
Deforestation was caused by unprecedented forest fires, along with illegal logging, mining, and agriculture on protected land.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who will take office in 2019, has advocated opening protected areas for mining and agriculture.
