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US announces R$ 2.5 billion donation to the Amazon Fund

President Lula meets with US President Joe Biden

Credit: Ricardo Stuckert/PR

24 Apr 23

US announces R$ 2.5 billion donation to the Amazon Fund

The United States announced on April 23th that it will donate R$2.5 billion to the Amazon Fund, a multi-donor fund that supports sustainable development and climate action in the Amazon Rainforest. The donation is the largest single contribution to the fund and comes at a time when the Amazon faces unprecedented threats from deforestation, climate change, and fires.

The U.S. donation will be used to support a variety of projects in the Amazon, including: reducing deforestation and forest degradation; protecting indigenous peoples and their rights; promoting sustainable development; and fighting climate change.

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Forest fires rates drop in the first two months of 2023, but Amazon accounts for 90% of them, study says

There was a reduction of 213 thousand hectares of land burned in the period

Credit: Edilson Rodrigues/Agência Senado

19 Apr 23

Forest fires rates drop in the first two months of 2023, but Amazon accounts for 90% of them, study says

The number of fire spots in Brazil fell 28% in the first two months of this year in relation to the same period in 2022, according to data from the Fire Monitor, of MapBiomas. 90% of the fires occurred in the Amazon, which represents 487,000 hectares. Roraima was the state that registered the most fires, accounting for 48% of the total, followed by Mato Grosso and Pará. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) registered more hot spots in the first quarter of this year in the Amazon than in 2022, but below the historical average.

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Beyond deforestation: 38% of the Amazon Rainforest is affected by other forms of degradation

Deforested and degrated areas near Mura indigenous land

Credit: Alberto César Araújo/Amazônia Real

30 Jan 23

Beyond deforestation: 38% of the Amazon Rainforest is affected by other forms of degradation

More than one third of the Amazon Rainforest is already affected by drought, fires, logging and the” edge effects”, according to a study published in the scientific journal Science.

Authored by 35 Brazilian and foreign researchers, the study differentiates between deforestation and degradation. While, in the former, the forest undergoes major changes to make way for a new use – for example, an area that is burned to turn into pasture – degradation is differentiated by involving more changes in forest cover and by not having the objective of transforming the use of that land.

Degradation includes fires; drought (intensified by climate change); selective logging (legal or illegal; “selective” because some commercially interesting trees are removed, leaving others standing); and edge effects (changes in forests near deforested areas, thus a direct consequence of deforestation).

The study estimates that 38% of the Amazon Rainforest is now affected by some type of degradation. “The degraded area in the Amazon and the carbon emissions from degradation are equal or even greater than those from deforestation,” said study leader David Lapola, a researcher at the Center for Meteorological and Climatic Research Applied to Agriculture at Unicamp (State University of Campinas) and a doctorate from the University of Kassel, Germany, to BBC News Brazil.

 

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BBC

Forest fires grow 14% in 2022, report says

The majority of the fires happened in Cerrado and Amazon regions

Credit: Christian Braga / Greenpeace

27 Jan 23

Forest fires grow 14% in 2022, report says

In 2022, Brazil lost to fire more than 163 thousand km² of forests, the equivalent to the state of Acre (152,581 km²). The area represents an increase of 14% compared to the 142.8 thousand km² recorded in the previous year. The data are from the Fire Monitor, from the Mapbiomas platform in partnership with IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute).

Most of the fires were registered in the Amazon and in the Cerrado (together, the two biomes have 95% of the destroyed area). The fires were concentrated in countryside and savannah regions (43%), formations that are found in the Cerrado, while 25.4% of the affected area was pastureland.

Considering only December, the increase in fires was 93%, compared with the same month in 2021: there were 3,327 km² of burned area last year, compared with 1,748 km² in 2021.

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Deforestation in the Amazon increases by 123% in November

This is the second worst rate for November in history

Credit: Nilmar Lage/Greenpeace

12 Dec 22

Deforestation in the Amazon increases by 123% in November

Data from the National Institute for Space Research (DETER/INPE) revealed that deforestation in the Amazon in November reached 555 km², an increase of 123% compared to the same month in 2021 and the second worst in the historical series, second only to 2020.  The devastated area is the size of the city of Belém, capital of Pará.

In the BR-319 highway vicinity, the municipality of Lábrea (AM) had the largest area with deforestation alerts, reaching 209 square kilometers. The highway had its construction resumed under the Bolsonaro administration and helped consolidate the south of Amazonas state as the new deforestation frontier.

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Transition's Environment Chief says that "there will be accountability" of government officials responsible for environmental crimes

A reunion of the Environment work group

Credit: Climate Observatory

8 Dec 22

Transition’s Environment Chief says that “there will be accountability” of government officials responsible for environmental crimes

The coordinator of the Environment group of the transition cabinet, Jorge Viana (PT-AC), said that there will be “criminal accountability” of those responsible for the dismantling of the environmental agencies in Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. “We came to the conclusion, in the first report we made, that there was a deliberate action, an action that will certainly have to be held accountable criminally,” said Viana, who also said that, the environmental area is “a symbol of the dismantling that occurred in the country over the last four years, inside and out.”

The former Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva (Rede), guaranteed that the environmental agenda will be transversal in the formulation of public policies, citing the commitments made by Lula in the campaign, in his victory speech and at the COP 27. Vice President Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) stated that the climate issue is central.

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Brazil has the highest increase in gas emissions in almost 20 years

Floods and extreme events where seem around the country in January

Credit: Archive /Agência Brasil

1 Nov 22

Brazil has the highest increase in gas emissions in almost 20 years

The level of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil had in 2021 the highest increase since 2003, according to the Climate Observatory’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates System (SEEG). The growth last year reached 12.2% and was driven by deforestation, energy, and agriculture and cattle raising.

This is also the fourth consecutive year that Brazil has recorded an increase in emissions. The table places the country as the fifth largest emitter worldwide, with 4% of the total, behind China (23.7% of the total), the United States (12.9%), India (6.5%), and Russia (4.2%).

According to Tasso Azevedo, coordinator of the SEEG, this ten-year balance shows that Brazil has had a lost decade to control its climate pollution. “Since the regulation of the National Policy on Climate Change, in 2010, we have been slipping. Not only have we failed to reduce our emissions consistently, but we have increased them in recent years, and significantly.

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In 10 months, Amazon hits annual deforestation record

Deforestation and cattle ranching are among the main vectors of destruction

Credit: Christian Braga/Greenpeace

28 Oct 22

In 10 months, Amazon hits annual deforestation record

The year 2022 has not ended, but the Amazon is already experiencing its most devastating calendar year in records. According to the DETER/INPE system, the accumulated deforestation alerts between January 1st and October 21st is 9,277 km2. With two months until the end of this year, the total area affected by deforestation in 2022 already exceeds the total of the worst year of records so far, 2019, when the alerts totaled 9,178 km2.

Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, says that deforestation in the Amazon is out of control and the scenario for the environmental crime “has never been so favorable.” “There is no action by the federal government to stop deforestation in the Amazon. Decreasing it is not a concern of the Bolsonaro government,” he explained.

In addition, the Amazon also set a new record for deforestation in September, with a high of almost 50% compared to the previous year.

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Carbon emissions double in the Amazon under Bolsonaro "mainly because of dismantling," says study

Deforestation jeopardizes Amazon’s capacity to act as a carbon sink

Credit: Christian Braga/Greenpeace

21 Sep 22

Carbon emissions double in the Amazon under Bolsonaro “mainly because of dismantling,” says study

A group of Brazilian researchers linked to INPE(National Institute for Space Research) has submitted a paper to the scientific journal Nature that claims carbon emissions doubled under Bolsonaro, specifically between 2019 and 2020, when compared to 2010 to 2018. The main reason for the emissions was human action driven by the dismantling of environmental enforcement and governance, says the study, which assessed the loss of the ability of the world’s largest tropical forest to act as a carbon sink and mitigate the effects of climate change.

According to the research, led by chemist Luciana Gatti, the effect was similar to the damage caused in 2010 and 2015/16 by El Niño, a climate phenomenon that makes the Amazon drier and more flammable. In 2019, the increase in emissions was of 89%. In 2020, 122%. More recent data show that deforestation records continued to be broken in 2021 and 2022, possibly worsening this scenario.

 

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Amazon forest fires reach new record in August and smoke invades Northern Brazil

Smoke covered the skies throughout the Amazon

Credit: INPE/via G1

5 Sep 22

Amazon forest fires reach new record in August and smoke invades Northern Brazil

The Amazon registered the worst number of fires for the month of August in the last 12 years, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). There were 33,116 fires, the highest number since 2010, when 45,018 fires were recorded. This is the 4th consecutive year of Bolsonaro’s admistration that the volume of fires in the period is above the 28,000 mark.

On Amazon Day, celebrated September 5, the smoke caused by the fires spread over the states of Acre, Amazonas, Rondônia, Roraima, Mato Grosso and Pará, covering an extension of 5 million km², reported INPE.

From August 2021 to July 2022, 10,781 km² of forest were cut down, the largest area in the last 15 years for the period, according to data from the Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon). “The uncontrolled burning observed in the last four years is closely associated with an increase in deforestation and forest degradation in this period,” stated Mariana Napolitano, Science Manager at WWF-Brazil, heard by G1.

 

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Devastation in the Amazon: Smoke engulfs the region as deforestation breaks new record

The sky of Manaus covered in smoke from the fires in the Amazon region

Credit: Alberto César Araújo/Amazônia Real

21 Aug 22

Devastation in the Amazon: Smoke engulfs the region as deforestation breaks new record

Illegal fires in the south of Amazonas and southwest of Pará states have compromised the air quality of several cities in the region, where a toxic cloud of smoke has taken over the skies. Among the municipalities hit were Altamira and Novo Progresso in Pará, and the capital of Amazonas, Manaus. According to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), in August, 16,088 fires were registered in the Amazon.

The Institute of Man and the Environment of the Amazon (Imazon), which monitors the biome via the Deforestation Alert System (SAD), pointed to the record devastation recorded in the last 12 months. From August 2021 to July 2022, 10,781 km² of forest were cut down, an area equivalent to seven times the city of São Paulo. This is the largest deforested area in the last 15 years for the period.

For the Institute, the data is especially alarming, given the global climate scenario. “The increase in deforestation directly threatens the lives of traditional peoples and communities and the maintenance of biodiversity in the Amazon. In addition to contributing to greater carbon emissions in a period of climate crisis,” said Bianca Santos, a researcher at Imazon.

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Deforestation rises 8% in the Amazon in July

The first semester had records in all months in 2002

Credit: Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama

1 Aug 22

Deforestation rises 8% in the Amazon in July

Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) indicates that the number of fires in the Amazon biome increased 8% in July, when compared to the same time frame from last year. A total of 5,373 fires were detected by satellite in the region. From January to July, the total was 12,906, an increase of 13% compared to the first seven months of 2021.

Sources:

UOL

Amazon region records highest number of fires in June in the last 15 years

Imagem de satélite registra os focos de incêndio durante estação da seca em 2019.

Crédito: NASA via Wikimedia Commons

1 Jul 22

Amazon region records highest number of fires in June in the last 15 years

The Inpe (National Institute for Space Research) registered 2562 fires in the Amazon in June. The figure is the highest in fifteen years and confirms two trends: that every June sets a new forest fires record under Bolsonaro and that, in view of the election year, environmental criminals are taking advantage of the leniency of Bolsonaro’s environmental policy to carry out illegal fires.

The increase, compared to May, was of 11%. The biome is now entering the fire season, which lasts from July to October. Every year, more than 120,000 people are hospitalized in the region for respiratory problems during the season.

 

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Lack of resources threatens to leave ICMBio without 3,000 temps during fire season

Lack of employees could lead to record in fires.

Credit: Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama/CC BY-SA 2.0

30 Mar 22

Lack of resources threatens to leave ICMBio without 3,000 temps during fire season

An internal document from the Chico Mendes Biodiversity Institute (ICMBio), responsible for the management of parks and conservation units, indicates that the agency is without resources to maintain the 3,0000 temporary employees who work directly in support operations to the agency. The General Coordination of Finance and Revenue sent the alert, to which the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo had access, to the institute’s board of directors.

The ICMBio has only 1,300 fixed employees and depends on temporary contracts to protect Brazil’s Conservation Units, especially during the fire season, which starts in May and lasts until November.

Questioned by the report, the agency said that “there are no budget cuts planned” and that it will keep “the same number of temporary agents hired in the federal conservation units”.

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Deforestation in the Amazon increases 22% in February and sets a new record

Área desmatada é quase do tamanho da cidade de Natal (RN)

Crédito: Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama/via Agência Senado

8 Mar 22

Deforestation in the Amazon increases 22% in February and sets a new record

Deforestation alerts in the Amazon had a 22% increase in the month of February compared to the same period in the last year, as partial data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) points out. By February 25th, 149.88 km² were deforested, the second largest area for the month of february since 2016.

This is the second consecutive record of devastation of the biome in 2022. In January, the Amazon had 430.44 km² of its area with deforestation alerts, a number four times higher when compared to January 2021, and the worst since 2016, also according to INPE.

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Amazon registers record high in deforestation in January with a 418% increase

Criminals deforested an area equivalent to 43 thousand soccer fields

Photo: Mayke Toscano/Gcom-MT/Via Veja

11 Feb 22

Amazon registers record high in deforestation in January with a 418% increase

In January, the Amazon registered the highest deforestation rate for the period since 2016, the year that marks the beginning of measurements by the Deter satellite system, from the Space Research Institute (Inpe). There were 430 square kilometers of forest lost, an increase of 418% when compared to January 2021.

Most of the deforestation alerts monitored by Inpe were concentrated in the states of Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Pará.

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Areas burned down during "Day of the Fire" are now illegaly occupied by soybean fields

Em 2019, incêndios criminosos foram orquestrados por fazendeiros locais em apoio ao recém-presidente Bolsonaro

Crédito: Fernando Martinho/Repórter Brasil

8 Feb 22

Areas burned down during “Day of the Fire” are now illegaly occupied by soybean fields

Between August 10 and 11, 2019, farmers and landowners in the southwest of Pará state mobilized to set fire to areas of the Amazon forest in an episode that became known as “Day of the Fire.” In the period, the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) detected 1,457 hotspots in the state, an increase of 1,923% compared to the previous year. More than two years later, Repórter Brasil revealed that the burned area is now home to soybean fields. The agency carried out an unprecedented survey by cross-referencing the coordinates of the locations where it spotted the plantations with fire alert data from NASA satellites at the time.

One of the main areas affected by the fire, the Sustainable Development Project Terra Nossa, a settlement of the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), was also invaded by monoculture, even though this type of cultivation goes against the purpose of this type of agrarian reform, intended for the subsistence of the settled families.

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With Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Amazon increased by 56.6%, study says

The survey utilized public data from a governmental institution

Photo: Victor Moriyama/Amazônia em Chamas/Divulgação Greenpeace

2 Feb 22

With Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Amazon increased by 56.6%, study says

A survey by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) indicates that since the beginning of the Bolsonaro administration, deforestation in the biome has grown 56.6%. The study compared August 2018 and July 2021 to the same period from 2015 to 2018.

According to the study, 51% of deforestation occurred on public lands, with 83% of this total in areas under federal jurisdiction. Proportionally to the size of the territories, Indigenous Lands (TIs) had an average increase of 153% in deforestation compared to the last three-year period, while Conservation Units (UCs) registered an increase of 63.7%.

“When we look at the figures for the last three years, it is clear that Brazil has regressed from what it once was. We are following a path totally opposite to the attitudes that the planet urgently needs right now,” said Ane Alencar, lead author of the study and director of Science at IPAM.

Earlier this year, another study with alarming data on the devastation of the Amazon under the Bolsonaro government was released by the scientific community. According to the Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon), in 2021, the Amazon forest suffered the largest deforestation of the last 14 years.

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OECD requests commitment to curb deforestation as precondition for Brazil’s membership

Em carta à OCDE, Bolsonaro afirma compromisso com pauta socioambiental

Crédito: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real

27 Jan 22

OECD requests commitment to curb deforestation as precondition for Brazil’s membership

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) formally approved the start of negotiations for Brazil to join the group, requested in 2017. Among the demands presented to Bolsonaro adminstration as conditions for the agreement are the reduction of deforestation and measures to mitigate climate change. provided for in the Paris agreement.

In response, Bolsonaro said that “there is no doubt that Brazil shares the OECD’s objective to support sustainable economic growth“, in a letter sent to the organization’s secretary-general, Mathias Cormann. 

In an article about the beginning of the negotiations, journalist Matheus Pichonelli cited the Smoke Signal socio-environmental monitor when highlighting the dismantling promoted by the government’s environmental policies in the last three years. On the country’s entry into the OECD, Pichonelli says that “to beckon with the club of rich countries, Bolsonaro will have to break with the club of agrotroglodytes”, alluding to the agribusiness sector, an important ally of the president.

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Rede Sustentabilidade goes to the Supreme Court to guarantee Cerrado's satellite monitoring

“Não vamos permitir um apagão de dados”, declarou o senador Randolfe Rodrigues “We will fight back a data blackout”, said senator Randolfe Rodrigues

Credit: Pedro França/Agência Senado

11 Jan 22

Rede Sustentabilidade goes to the Supreme Court to guarantee Cerrado’s satellite monitoring

The Rede Sustentabilidade party (Sustainability Network) filed an Argument of Violation of a Fundamental Precept (ADPF) 934 with the Supreme Court (STF), asking the federal government to “immediately provide the allocation and execution of sufficient funds” to continue monitoring the deforestation of the Cerrado savanna conducted by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), as reported by Conjur.

In early January, Inpe reported that it only has funds until April to maintain the 20 professionals that make up the team responsible for the daily monitoring and annual balances of deforestation in the biome, at a cost of R$ 2.5 million a year (US$ 500,000).

Considered the most threatened biome in Brazil, Cerrado has suffered the impact of the advancing soy and cattle agribusiness. In 2021, the region reached the highest deforestation rate since 2015, according to the monitoring by Inpe.

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