Deforestation in the Amazon and Brazilian savannah reached record levels in February, according to official figures released today that outline the challenges facing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has vowed to end the devastation by 2030 as part of his policies to reverse the made by his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
Satellite images detected 322 square kilometers of forest cover destroyed in the Brazilian part of the largest tropical forest on the planet, which represents an increase of 62% compared to the record of February 2022, which had already been a record, revealed the surveillance system of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), reported the AFP news agency.
In the Cerrado biome, a tropical savanna of enormous diversity located in the south of the Amazon, 558 square kilometers were identified as destroyed, 99% more than in February 2022 and almost double the previous record (283 square kilometers), set in February. of 2020.
Despite the fact that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell 61% in January, the first month of President Lula’s government, compared to the same period in 2022, the figures released today are not surprising, since the record for February in the Amazon had been reached on the 17th of the month.
The international community hopes that Lula can reverse the destruction recorded during the term of the far-right Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
During his administration, the former president defended the economic and mining exploitation of the Amazon, and was the target of criticism inside and outside the country for his positions against expanding the demarcation of indigenous lands and environmental preservation.
Deforestation of the Brazilian jungle skyrocketed an average of 75.5% annually during his presidency (2019-2022).
Lula, 77, who already governed the country between 2003 and 2010, promised to restart environmental protection programs, fight to meet the goal of zero illegal deforestation by 2030 and guarantee that Brazil stops being a “pariah” on climate issues. .
The leader of the Workers’ Party appointed Marina Silva to the Ministry of the Environment, a renowned environmentalist who was in charge of that portfolio between 2003 and 2008, when Brazil managed to significantly reduce deforestation.
After his inauguration, Lula signed a series of decrees to strengthen the protection of the Amazon.
It reactivated the Amazon rainforest preservation fund, frozen since 2019 due to disagreements over the destination of these resources with Norway and Germany, the main donors, and the Bolsonaro government. Both countries expressed their intentions to return to contribute to the fund.
It also revoked a decree that authorized mining on indigenous and environmentally protected lands.
The reduction of deforestation is one of the solutions recommended by experts to face global warming, accelerated by the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels and human action.
Source: Ambito
