Brazil’s deforestation is exploding—and 2020 will be worse
Source: Science Magazine
Development, most of it illegal, destroyed more than 9700 square kilometers of Brazilian Amazon rainforest in the year ending in July, according to a government estimate released on Monday—an increase of 30% from the previous year and the highest rate of deforestation since 2007–08.
The number is based on analysis of high-resolution Landsat satellite images by the Program for Monitoring Deforestation of the Amazon by Satellite (PRODES), run by Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research. The estimate confirms indications of increased forest loss reported earlier this year by a different system, the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER), which uses lower resolution satellite images for real-time monitoring of illegal activities in the forest.
Many scientists and environmentalists blame the deforestation spike on President Jair Bolsonaro’s aggressive policies to support mining and ranching and to dismantle environmental protections. But Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles has said the increased deforestation continues a trend that began in 2012, before Bolsonaro was elected. Science asked Philip Fearnside, a scientist at Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus, who’s right. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Cont'd.
LINK:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/brazil-s-deforestation-exploding-and-2020-will-be-worse