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Associated Press

After four years of rising destruction in Brazil’s Amazon, deforestation dropped by 33.6 per cent during the first six months of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s term, according to government satellite data released Thursday.
From January to June the rainforest had alerts for possible deforestation covering 2,650 sq km (1,023 square miles), down from 4,000 sq km during the same period last year under former president Jair Bolsonaro.
This year’s data includes a 41 per cent plunge in alerts for June, which marks the start of the dry season when deforestation tends to jump.
“The effort of reversing the curve of growth has been reached. That is a fact: we reversed the curve; deforestation isn’t increasing,” Joao Paulo Capobianco, the Environment Ministry’s executive secretary, said during a presentation in Brasilia.

Capobianco noted that full-year results will depend on a few challenging months ahead.
Still, the data is an encouraging sign for Lula, who campaigned last year with pledges to rein in illegal logging and undo the environmental devastation during Bolsonaro’s term.
Brazil court votes to bar Jair Bolsonaro from elections until 2030
The former far-right leader weakened environmental authorities while his insistence on development of the Amazon region resonated with land-grabbers and farmers who had long felt maligned by environmental laws. They were emboldened, and Amazon deforestation surged to a 15-year high.
Thursday’s deforestation data comes from a system called Deter, managed by the National Institute for Space Research, a federal agency. It is an initiative mainly focused on detecting real-time deforestation. The most accurate deforestation calculations come from another system called Prodes, with data released only annually.
“Bottom line, we are prioritising environmental law enforcement,” Jair Schmitt, head of environmental protection at IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, said in a phone interview with Associated Press.
However, the continued shortage of personnel means the task hasn’t been easy, he said. Many IBAMA agents retired and weren’t replaced during Bolsonaro’s administration, reflecting his effort to defang environmental authorities.
Lula has committed to restoring the workforce, but the number of Ibama’s enforcement agents remains at its lowest in 24 years. For the entire country that is bigger than the contiguous US, there are just 700 agents, with 150 available for deployment.
IBAMA has also strengthened remote surveillance, where deforestation is detected through satellite imagery, according to Schmitt. By cross-referencing with land records, it is possible to identify the owner of the area in many cases, leading to an embargo that restricts access to financial loans and imposes other sanctions.

Another strategy has been to seize thousands of illegally raised cattle within embargoed areas. It is effective because it inflicts immediate punishment, whereas fines are rarely paid in Brazil due to a slow appeals process, Schmitt said.
It may be premature to celebrate the reversal in deforestation’s trend, however. According to satellite monitoring, there were 3,075 fires in the Amazon in June alone, which marks the beginning of the dry season – the most since 2007.
The jump is due to the clearing of areas deforested in the second half of 2022, Schmitt said. In the Amazon, fires are mostly man-made and occur after clear-cutting of the forest.
Which is longer, Amazon or Nile? New quest aims to settle old debate
With El Nino looming, which typically brings less rain and higher temperatures to the Amazon, IBAMA has doubled its budget for fighting forest fires and increased the scope of its fire squads by 17 per cent for the most critical period, typically July to October. Approximately half of the 2,117 temporary firefighters are Indigenous peoples.
The Amazon rainforest covers an area twice the size of India and holds tremendous stores of carbon, serving as a crucial buffer against climate change. Two-thirds of it is located in Brazil.
Next month, Lula will preside over a meeting in Belem, bringing together heads-of-state from all Amazonian nations to discuss means to effectively cooperate in the challenging region.
Lula has promised to end net deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon by 2030. His four-year mandate, his third term, ends two years earlier.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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Brazil

Brazil Amazon deforestation drops 34 per cent in Lula’s first 6 months

Amazon deforestation surged to a 15-year high in recent years. File photo: AFP

Cattle graze on land burned and deforested by cattle farmers in 2020. File photo: AP

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Photo: AP

Eco-tourism in Peru: Amazon travellers get up close with sloths, tarantulas, capybaras and macaws at the Tambopata Research Centre

A capybara, a giant relative of the guinea pig, near the Tambopata Research Centre ecolodge in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo: Tamara Hinson

A macaw at the Tambopata Research Centre, in the Peruvian Amazon. The wildlife around the centre makes the long trip to get there well worth it for ecotourists. Photo: Tamara Hinson

A friendly pink-toed tarantula at the Tambopata Research Centre. Photo: Tamara Hinson

There is a three-hour boat ride to the Tambopata Research Centre. Photo: Tamara Hinson

The Tambopata Research Centre is the last permanent human encampment on the Tambopata River. Photo: Tamara Hinson

The Tambopata Research Centre is surrounded by jungle, and the animal noise in the morning and evening can be deafening. Photo: Tamara Hinson

Macaws at a clay lick near the Tambopata Research Centre. Photo: Tamara Hinson

A capybara with a bird, Tambopata Research Centre, Peru. Photo: Tamara Hinson

Paul, a guide at the Tambopata Research Centre, says that certain trees communicate through their roots. Photo: Tamara Hinson

A tree snake near Tambopata Research Centre, Peru. Photo: Tamara Hinson

A scorpion under black light near the research centre. Photo: Tamara Hinson

Butterflies seen from the Tambopata Research Centre ecolodge in Peru. Photo: Tamara Hinson

Which is longer, Amazon or Nile? New quest aims to settle old debate

(FILES) Aerial view of the Mucajai river at the Yanomami indigenous territory in the state of Roraima, Brazil on February 2, 2023. What’s the longest river in the world, the Nile or the Amazon? The question has fueled a heated debate for years. Now, an expedition into the South American jungle aims to settle it for good. Using boats powered by solar energy and pedal power, an international team of explorers plans to set off in April 2024 to definitively establish the source of the Amazon in the Peruvian Andes, then travel nearly 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) across Colombia and Brazil, to the massive river’s mouth on the Atlantic. (Photo by MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP)

The Nile river in Egypt’s southern province of Qena, north of Luxor. Photo: AFP

Man recounts month lost in Amazon, surviving on insects and drinking urine

The Amazon rainforest is shared by nine South American nations including Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. File photo: Shutterstock

Climate change: burning trees in the Amazon melts snow in the Himalayas

A fire burns part of the Amazon jungle as it is cleared by a farmer in Machadinho do Oeste, Rondonia state, Brazil. Photo: Reuters/File

A fire burns part of Amazon jungle in Rondonia state, Brazil. Photo: Reuters/File

Glaciers appear to be declining at rates equal to or greater than long-established trends. Photo: USGS/Nasa/handout

News

World

Americas

Deforestation hits lowest level in four years as Brazil’s president institutes tougher environmental policies
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to end net deforestation in the Amazon by 2030


Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to end net deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.


Environment

Climate change

Americas and the Caribbean

Brazil Amazon deforestation drops 34 per cent in Lula’s first 6 months

Deforestation hits lowest level in four years as Brazil’s president institutes tougher environmental policies President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to end net deforestation in the Amazon by 2030

Deforestation hits lowest level in four years as Brazil’s president institutes tougher environmental policies

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to end net deforestation in the Amazon by 2030