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Deforestation in the first trimester sets a record in the Cerrado and has the second worst rate in the Amazon

Studies estimate that river flow in the Cerrado biome will drop 34% by 2050 because of deforestation

Credit: José Cícero/Agência Pública

7 Apr 23

Deforestation in the first trimester sets a record in the Cerrado and has the second worst rate in the Amazon

Deforestation in the Brazilian Cerrado biome reached the highest value ever recorded for the first quarter of the year since the beginning of the historical series, in 2015, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). The biome lost 909 km² of native vegetation between January and March 2023, an increase of 24% compared to the same period last year. In the Amazon, deforestation in the first quarter was also alarming, with 1,545 km², the second worst rate for the period since 2015.

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Deforestation in Matopiba region threatens the water supply of more than 300 cities

Studies estimate that river flow in the Cerrado biome will drop 34% by 2050 because of deforestation

Credit: José Cícero/Agência Pública

22 Mar 23

Deforestation in Matopiba region threatens the water supply of more than 300 cities

Deforestation in the Matopiba region, comprised by portions of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia, may jeopardize the water supply of at least 373 cities, according to a study released on Wednesday (22) by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam) and MapBiomas. The analysis published with Agência Pública brings data on five river basins, and indicates that the flow of rivers in the Cerrado, the Brazilian  may fall by up to 34% by 2050 due to the loss of native vegetation.

The basins of the Tocantins, São Francisco, Parnaíba, Itapecuru and Araguaia rivers, which had the highest deforestation rates in 2022, are fundamental for the water supply of urban and rural populations. The consequences for water quality and the risk of water shortages may be even greater than the 373 municipalities pointed out in the analysis.

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Deforestation in the Amazon drops 61% in January, but Cerrado saw only a 10% decline

Deforestation in the Cerrado causes concerns for environmentalists and tradicional populations

Credit: Marcos Vergueiro/Secom-MT

10 Feb 23

Deforestation in the Amazon drops 61% in January, but Cerrado saw only a 10% decline

Deforestation in the Legal Amazon region showed a reduction of 61% in January 2023, compared to the same period last year, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The total deforested area in the region was 167 km², compared to 430 km² in January 2022.

On the other hand, deforestation in the Brazilian Cerrado more than doubled compared to the Amazon, reaching 441.85 km² in January. The deforested Cerrado area saw a 10% decline compared to the same period last year, when the figure was 491.64 km². Nevertheless, the deforested area is larger than the entire city of Curitiba – the capital of Paraná state -, which covers 434.892 km².

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Bolsonaro's Ministry of Environment gave up on defending 8 million hectares in the Amazon, Pantanal, and Cerrado

Number of conservation units created per government

Crédito: Júlia Coelho/The Intercept Brasil

8 Feb 23

Bolsonaro’s Ministry of Environment gave up on defending 8 million hectares in the Amazon, Pantanal, and Cerrado

During Ricardo Salles’ tenure as Minister of Environment in the Bolsonaro administration, the Ministry of the Environment decided to abandon the creation of protected areas in 167 federal lands, without making a fuzz or consulting technical staff. These areas are located in the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal regions, covering eight Brazilian states across three regions of the country, including the states of Amazonas, Amapá, Pará, Roraima, Rondônia, Tocantins, Maranhão, and Mato Grosso.

Furthermore, on October 29, 2020, the ministry announced that it “has no interest in acquiring new areas for the creation of conservation units.” The decision was made without considering the concerns previously expressed by the ministry’s technical staff regarding these areas, according to an investigation by The Intercept Brasil.

However, there are at least 39 areas that should not have been discarded, according to ICMBio’s own technicians. These are large, well-preserved forest masses, totaling more than 8 million hectares – almost twice the size of the state of Rio de Janeiro – and are located in the states of Mato Grosso (16), Amazonas (10), Pará (9), Rondônia (2), and Roraima (2).

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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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Destruction of Indigenous area led ICMBio to set up task force in Tocantins state

Força-tarefa conta com Ibama, ICMBio, Funai e Polícia Federal

Crédito: Divulgação

5 Jan 23

Destruction of Indigenous area led ICMBio to set up task force in Tocantins state

The destruction of an isolated Indigenous land even under protection of a judicial decision led the Conservation agency ICMBio to set up a task force in the state of Tocantins. Federal agents found cattle inside the “Mata do Mamão”, in the Bananal Island, an ecological sanctuary of primary forest where the Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal biomes meet. The Mata do Mamão is also home to Isolated indigenous group Avá- Canoeiro. 

To protect them, since 2019 the passing of non-indigenous in the are was prohibited by the Federal Justice; however, the decision has not been enforced. According to ICMBio, 12 years ago Mata do Mamão was double in size in comparison to today – the legal decision aimed to to contain the illegal occupation by cattle ranchers, but failed. The task force has thus been formed with environmental agents to investigate land related crimes and identify who was responsible.

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Deforestation, fines and gold mining: the first measures of Lula's government to rebuild Brazil's socio environmental governance

Presidente Lula inicia o seu terceiro mandato restabelecimento vários programas de proteção ambiental que haviam sido extintos ou enfraquecidos no governo do ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro

Crédito: Ana Pessoa / Mídia NINJA

2 Jan 23

Deforestation, fines and gold mining: the first measures of Lula’s government to rebuild Brazil’s socio environmental governance

On his first day in office, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed the first decrees revoking or repealing measures adopted by his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. The so-called “revogaço” (a package of repeals) was promised during Lula’s election campaign and targeted firearms policies, environment and secrecy practices involving public data. 

With regards to the environmental agenda, the president signed the following decrees: determined a 45-day deadline to finalize a proposal to regulate the National Council for the Environment (CONAMA, which was strongly damaged under Bolsonaro); ; reestablishment of rules to reopen the Amazon Fund (shut down by Bolsonaro in the first few months of this government) – both Norway and Germany announced R$ 3,3 billion of Fund resources for immediate release; revoked a decree permitting gold mining inside protected and sensitive areas that was signed by Bolsonaro;  resuming the Action Plan to Prevent and Control Deforestation, including all Brazilian biomes to reach the zero deforestation target; reviewed the norms for environmental fines and sanctions, excluding practises that led to impunity for environmental criminals (that were also weakened by Bolsonaro); established the permanent Interministerial Commission to Prevent and Control Deforestation engaging 19 federal ministries, including the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Agrarian Development and Indigenous Peoples; the decrees also rearranged the civil society participation on the board of the National Environmental Fund and gave back to the Ministry of the Environment the control over the Rural Property Database (which was moved to Agriculture under Bolsonaro). 

On Monday January 2nd, Funai had its name changed: created in 1967 as the National Indian Foundation, it is now called National Foundation for Indigenous People.  FUNAI is now part of the structure of the newly established Ministry of Indigenous People. For the first time also, Funai is presided over by an indigenous woman, the former federal deputy Joenia Wapichana. 

On the same day, Minister Marina Silva canceled a norm created by former minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles that took away important technical attributions to Ibama’s environmental agents. According to  Brasil de Fato publication, the norm paralyzed Ibama’s inspections and law enforcement capacities. A survey by Estadao media showed that out of 1,154 infractions and fines issued after October 2019, when Salles changed the rules, 98% were not enforced or charged. Marina Silva also determined that infractions and fines must be made publicly available on the internet. During Bolsonaro’s government, the database on infractions and fines were made inaccessible. It was also determined that 50% of money raised with fines will be destined to the National Environmental Fund (FNMA), to support environmental policies. Minister Marina also said that more repeals and changes will be published in the upcoming days and weeks.

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Deforestation in the Cerrado biome increases by 25% in 2022 and is the highest since 2015

The Cerrado is known as the “Brazilian Savanah”

Credit: Moisés Muálem/ WWF-Brasil

15 Dec 22

Deforestation in the Cerrado biome increases by 25% in 2022 and is the highest since 2015

From August 2021 to July 2022, the deforestation in the Cerrado biome, the Brazilian savanah, increased by 25.29%, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). In all, an area of 10,688.73 km² was deforested.

Besides the deforested area passing the 10 thousand km² milestone, the data presented today show that in 2022 there was a 25% increase in the devastation of the biome compared to the previous year, when the annual rate reached 8,531.44 km². This is the third consecutive year of increased destruction in the Cerrado, a situation never seen since the monitoring started in 2000. During the Bolsonaro government, deforestation in the biome accumulated an area of 33,444 km2, more than six times the area of Brasilia, the country’s capital.

“We need to change the trajectory of Cerrado deforestation urgently, after 3 straight years of increased destruction. Preserving the biome is fundamental to maintaining the waters that irrigate both commodity production and family agriculture, and fill hydroelectric dam reservoirs across the country. Cutting down the Cerrado is acting against the agribusiness, against the fight against hunger and inflation – less Cerrado means more expensive food and electricity”, says Edegar de Oliveira Rosa, WWF-Brazil’s Conservation and Restoration director.

In 2022, the states with the greatest destruction were those in the region known as Matopiba, reaching 71% of the total deforested in the biome. The state of Maranhão leads the devastation ranking with 2,833.9 km², 27% of the total deforested in the biome. Next come Tocantins (2,127.52 km²) and Bahia (1,427.86 km²), along with Piauí (1,189 km²).

The disclosure of the figures comes just one week after the approval of the European anti-deforestation law, which prohibits the entry into the European market of commodities produced in deforested forest areas after December 31, 2020. The law does not include ecosystems such as the Cerrado and the concern is that, by restricting production with deforestation in the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest and the Chaco, the most typically forested biomes in South America, the new regulation may cause “leakage” of deforestation to the Brazilian savannah, increasing its destruction.

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Quilombolas and Indigenous Peoples ask the EU for more protection; USA prepares sanctions against Brazilian deforesters

Indigenous leaderships visit Europe to demand aid in the protection of biomes

Credit: Apib

23 Nov 22

Quilombolas and Indigenous Peoples ask the EU for more protection; USA prepares sanctions against Brazilian deforesters

Quilombola [Afro-Brazilian traditional communities] and Indigenous organizations have asked the European Parliament that forest protection should be extended to all Brazilian biomes in the new European Union legislation that regulates imports. It would be possible to increase the level of protection for the Cerrado from 26% to 82%, for the Pantanal from 23% to 42% and for the Caatinga from 10% to 93%.

The National Coordination of Articulation of Rural Black and Quilombola Communities (CONAQ) and the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples Network (Apib) delivered a report demanding the inclusion of a ban on illegal deforestation for all Brazilian biomes as a prerogative for commodity purchases by European countries, in the proposal known as the Forest and Ecosystem-Risk Commodities (FERC) Import Bill, which may have its final text voted in the European Parliament soon.

Meanwhile, the United States should apply penalties to environmental criminals who contribute to the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. The initiative would represent a change in the US strategy to fight climate change with more severe actions, such as the application of sanctions based on the Magnitsky Act – which would freeze offenders’ assets and prevent all Americans and companies in the country from dealing with sanctioned individuals or entities.

The international sanctions are a direct consequence of the environmental policies of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has reversed environmental protection measures and pushed for more mining and commercial agriculture in the Amazon, resulting in the highest deforestation spike in Brazil in 15 years.

 

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Smoke Signal launches the guide “Legal Amazon and the Future of Brazil”

Publication points out what is at stake in the region a month before Brazil’s elections

Credit: Smoke Signal

30 Aug 22

Smoke Signal launches the guide “Legal Amazon and the Future of Brazil”

With a little over a month to the 2022 presidential elections in Brazil, the monitoring initiative Smoke Signal launches “The Amazon and the Future of Brazil: a guide – An examination of the region’s nine states between 2018 and 2022”, an independent production started from a survey of the main events of the socioenvironmental agenda in the four years of Bolsonaro’s administration in all states that make up the region known as “Legal Amazon” in Brazil.

The material was written based on an active listening process carried out between May and July 2022 with the collection of 19 testimonials from people working in the territories covered by the guide. Communicators, researchers, indigenous and community leaders, and activists were heard. The interviews directed the research and, combined with the best available data, resulted in a qualified and thorough report on the region that occupies almost 60% of the national territory. 

The Guide presents an overview of what the Brazilian Legal Amazon is, contextualizing the reader with geographic and socioenvironmental information and the main political and economic drivers of forest destruction and violence. It brings a selection of data produced by relevant scientific institutes and civil society organizations from the region, and a survey of emblematic cases, violent deaths and indicators of the growing threats faced by native peoples in these areas.

The publication also details the movements of the National Congress in this scenario of dispute over land and environmental resources, highlighting four bills in progress in the federal houses and the behavior of state governments and their parliamentary caucuses regarding the so-called Destruction Package, a series of legislative proposals that profoundly change the use and management of land in the country. Moreover, the guide organizes timelines with the main events monitored by Smoke Signal over the past four years, mapping the main fake news and disinformation campaigns related to weakening environmental protections promoted in each of the states. Finally, it highlights critical areas and high-impact projects for the populations and biodiversity that will likely continue to be the subject of political bargaining after the elections. 

In three years, Brasil lost an area equal to Denmark in native forests

In 2021, deforestation increased by 20% in relation to the previous year

Credit: MapBiomas

18 Jul 22

In three years, Brasil lost an area equal to Denmark in native forests

Between 2019 and 2021, Brazil lost 42 thousand km² of native vegetation, according to deforestation alerts detected in the country’s 6 biomes, MapBiomas initiative revealed.

In their new report, the group reports that the country lost 16.557 km2 (1.655.782 ha) of its native cover in 2021. There were 69.796 deforestation alerts detected, 98% with evidence of illegality. 

From the total alerts, 66,8% were in the Amazon (977 thousand ha deforested, 59% of the total deforested area for the period; 15,2% in the Caatinga biome (190 thousand ha, 7% of the total deforested area), 9,9% in the Cerrado biome (500 thousand ha, 30,2% the total deforested area). Combined, the three biomes had 96,2% of native vegetation loss in the country for the period.

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Xingu Seeds Networks recovers areas from Cerrado and Amazon forest

Milene Alves (to the left), from Nova Xavantina, is the narrator of a documentary about the group

Credit: Tui Anandi / ISA

20 Jan 22

Xingu Seeds Networks recovers areas from Cerrado and Amazon forest

In 2022, the non-governmental and non-profit association Rede Sementes do Xingu [Xingu Seed Network] has reached 15 years of activity in forest restoration through the collection and marketing of native seeds of different species. So far, they have totalled 292 tons of collected seeds and 7.4 thousand hectares recovered. Besides the collection and distribution of seeds, the group’s objective is to value the autonomy of traditional peoples and cultures.

Formed by indigenous peoples, family farmers and residents of towns located in Amazon and Cerrado savanna territories in the state of Mato Grosso, the Network has 568 collectors distributed in 21 municipalities, including 16 rural settlements and 26 villages from three indigenous lands.

Last year, in partnership with the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA), the story of the Xingu Seed Network was told in the virtual reality documentary “Forest Makers”, which was previewed at the 26th United Nations Climate Conference (COP26).

 

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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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Due to lack of funds, Inpe could halt its monitoring of Cerrado savanna in April

Deforestation in the Cerrado reached record high in 2021

Credit: SEMAD/MG

6 Jan 22

Due to lack of funds, Inpe could halt its monitoring of Cerrado savanna in April

The Cerrado savanna biome monitoring project carried out by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) could be discontinued in April 2022. According to Inpe, the funding from the Forest Investment Program (FIP), managed by the World Bank and under the guardianship of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, which had maintained the monitoring team since 2016, ended on December 31, 2021.

According to Cláudio Almeida, coordinator of the monitoring program for the Amazon and other biomes, it takes R$2.5 million a year to maintain the 20 professionals who make up the team responsible for daily monitoring and annual balances of deforestation in the biome. The amount is equivalent to half of what the federal government spent on raisins in 2020, according to a comparison made by the One Planet website.

The work done by Inpe is essential for taking adequate measures aimed at the preservation of the Cerrado, which had a record deforestation rate in 2021 and is considered the most threatened biome in Brazil.

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Cerrado savanna deforestation reaches record high in 2021

Around 50% of the Cerrado is already destroyed

Credit: Victor Moriyama/Greenpeace

5 Jan 22

Cerrado savanna deforestation reaches record high in 2021

The Cerrado savanna biome recorded the highest rate of deforestation since 2015, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). According to a technical note from the institute, released on December 31, there was a 7.9% increase in the suppression of native vegetation from August 2020 to July 2021, the official period for measuring annual deforestation from the PRODES system, adding up to 8,531.44 km2.

Historically, the biome suffers from the advance of agribusiness and cattle ranching and had many conflicts over land and water, between landowners and local farmers, ribeirinhos, quilombolas and fishermen, a problem intensified with the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president in 2019.

Of the total deforested area, 61.3% (5227.32 km²) was concentrated in the region known as Matopiba, an agricultural frontier that encompasses part of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia, indicates an analysis by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM). Ane Alencar, science director of IPAM, says that the data needs to be taken seriously. “This region needs a special look at the conflicts that have become more acute because of this conversion [of native vegetation for agriculture and cattle raising]. The increase in deforestation in the Cerrado shows that the lack of environmental governance and the resulting socio-environmental conflicts are not prerogative of the Amazon alone”.

When heard by Reuters, the researcher stated that the increase in deforestation in the biome registered in 2021 is a reflection of the government’s stance towards the problem. “Deforestation is the most bare indicator of the terrible environmental policy that this government has had,” she concluded.

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Smoke Signal publishes report "Backwards with Bolsonaro" on the socio-environmental destruction during Bolsonaro’s three years in office
28 Oct 21

Smoke Signal publishes report “Backwards with Bolsonaro” on the socio-environmental destruction during Bolsonaro’s three years in office

Three years after Jair Bolsonaro’s election, Smoke Signal organized a comprehensive report that organized key points of the dismantling of socio-environmental governance and deforestation reduction policies in Brazil.

The bilingual dossier “Backwards with Bolsonaro – 30 years in Three” shows that the destruction is a political project announced since the elections and implemented from day one of Bolsonaro’s administration. The material was prepared using the over 450 articles published in our timeline since October, 2018.

The dossier will be launched while heads of state from hundreds of countries are gathering at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-26) to discuss how to stop the climate emergency. Brazil has been increasing its participation in the problem with the growth of pollutant emissions derived from deforestation and the carbonization of the energy matrix due to the water crisis — which are, in turn, linked to forest losses. 

Click here to read “JB Government: 30 years in 3” in Portuguese and here in English.

Fire in the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park has already ravaged 36 thousand hectares of the Cerrado

Fire was caused by environmental criminals, according to the Fire Department

Credit: TV Anhanguera

24 Sep 21

Fire in the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park has already ravaged 36 thousand hectares of the Cerrado

The fire in the municipality of Alto Paraíso de Goiás (GO), which started on September 12th and has since spread out to the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, has burned about 36,000 hectares of Cerrado vegetation so far. The data is provided by ICMBio institute, the federal agency responsible for managing the park.

The Police has five main lines of  investigation about the origin of the fire in the region and has three main suspects. Among them is a farmer in the region who allegedly started the fire on his property

Sources:

G1 (24/09)

In 2020, Brazil ranks 4th in environmentalists murdered

Brazil ranked 3rd in 2019

Credit: Marcello Casal Jr/Agência Brasil

13 Sep 21

In 2020, Brazil ranks 4th in environmentalists murdered

According to a new report by Global Witness Brazil was the fourth deadliest country in the world for environmental and land rights activists, in 2020, Of the 277 lethal attacks in the period, 165 took place in Latin America, 20 of them in Brazil. Although the NGO highlights the likely underreporting of cases, this is the highest overall number since the survey began in 2012.

In Brazil, the violence was concentrated in the Amazon, the report indicates. Around 75% of the attacks occurred in the region, especially against indigenous people. Among them is Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, who worked denouncing illegal way extractors and was found dead with signs of torture on April 18, 2020, in the municipality of Jaru, state of Rondônia. The case remains unsolved.

“The Bolsonaro administration has prioritized extractive industries in the Amazon and Cerrado regions, and indigenous rights organizations and six Brazilian political parties have claimed that the Bolsonaro government’s mismanagement of COVID-19 could lead to a ‘genocide’ of Brazil’s indigenous peoples,” the NGO said on its website.

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Farming and cattle-raising have invaded 26.5 million hectares of the Brazilian Savanna over the past 36 years

Region known as Matopiba is a target in the Cerrado biome

Credit: Isac Nóbrega/PR,via CC BY 2.0

10 Sep 21

Farming and cattle-raising have invaded 26.5 million hectares of the Brazilian Savanna over the past 36 years

From 1985 to 2020, agriculture and cattle ranching were responsible for the disappearance of 98.9% of the 26.5 million hectares of native vegetation cover lost in the Cerrado biome, according to a study by MapBiomas . The remainder is attributed to urban expansion.

The wetlands, points out an article on the O Eco portal, had their areas reduced by 10.3% in the last 36 years. “These changes are important indicators of alterations from an ecological point of view in these systems, because they point out that in some areas there is a loss of water in these wetlands, as well as a transition to areas of dry field and savanna,” explained Dhemerson Conciani, of the MapBiomas Cerrado team, in the webinar that presented the data.

The study also highlights the loss of vegetation in the agricultural expansion frontier known as Matopiba, a showcase of Brazilian agribusiness that occupies part of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia. Between 2010 and 2020, more than half of the total lost by the biome (3.23 million of 6.04 million hectares) was in the region. 

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Deforestation in Conservation Units rises by 312% in May

11,296 hectares were ravaged in protected areas

Credit: ICMBio

15 Jun 21

Deforestation in Conservation Units rises by 312% in May

Data from the Deter system of the National Institute for Space Research reveals that deforestation in Conservation Units (UCs) rose by 312% in May 2021, when compared to the same month in 2020. The area lost was of 11,296 hectares of forest in 2021 — over three times more than in 2020, when 741 hectares were destroyed.

The protected areas are under the responsibility of Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity (ICMBio), which has suffered with budget cuts, militarization of key positions, and the weakening of its monitoring role under the administration of Minister Ricardo Salles. The institute has now 1,5 thousand open positions, with no provision for a public contest.

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