Environmental protection associations sound the alarm and denounce an acceleration of the phenomenon since the election of Lula in Brazil at the end of October.
Le Monde with AFP
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon broke a new record for a month of October by reaching 904 square kilometers, this year, according to official data made public, Friday, November 11.
The National Institute for Spatial Research (INPE) notes, after the analysis of satellite observations, a 3 % increase in the deforested zone in the largest tropical forest of the planet compared to October 2021. In Only ten months, the year 2022 is already the worst in this statistical series for deforestation in Amazon, with 9,494 square kilometers of vegetation striped from the card, breaking the record with 9,178 square kilometers for the whole of 2021.
The Brazilian antenna of the WWF organization stressed, in a statement, that deforestation and fires had “exploded” in the Amazon since the result of the presidential election. On October 30, Jair Bolsonaro, accused by environmentalists of promoting the destruction of the Amazon, was beaten by a short head by the ex-president of the left Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva (2003-2010), who s’ is committed to fighting for zero deforestation.
multiplied by 75 % on Jair Bolsonaro
“The increase in deforestation [in October] was expected, but the preliminary data from the first days of November is frightening, it is a real frantic race for devastation” before the change of government, deplores WWF. Under the chairmanship of Jair Bolsonaro, average annual deforestation increased by 75 % compared to the previous decade.
President Lula, who will start his third term on 1 er January, confirmed Thursday that he would go to COP27 in Egypt next week, where he could announce the first lines directors of its environmental policy. “The new government will have a lot of work to put the country back on rails, to end a perception that the Amazon is a land without law,” said Raul do Valle, of WWF, quoted in the NGO press release .
The environmental policy of the Bolsonaro government “will still cause damage for a while, it will be a huge challenge to change the situation, but it is inevitable for Brazil to become a leader in the climate debate,” adds André Freitas, from Greenpeace to Brazil.