Deforestation of the Amazon has continued at record levels this year, leading observers to warn that the rainforest is disappearing faster than ever before.
Under Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who has encouraged deforesting parts of the Amazon for development, the area of rainforest cleared last year jumped by 29.5 per cent to its highest level in a decade.
With official data from Brazil鈥檚 space agency INPE now in for the whole of January and February 2020, it is clear there has been no let-up for the Amazon. A 470-square-kilometre area 鈥� around the size of Andorra 鈥撀爓as lost in this period, up about 70 per cent on a year ago.
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As well as being a biodiversity hotspot, the Amazon acts a major brake on climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide, although research last week found that its capacity to do so is rapidly diminishing.
What is particularly troubling about the new deforestation figures is that this time of year usually sees relatively little loss, as the rainforest is still in the rainy season and so it is harder to set fires.
Erika Berenguer at the University of Oxford says: 鈥淭he data shows a trend and it is likely that in 2020 we will see a continued increase in deforestation as the year progresses, especially as we move towards the dry season, when deforestation peaks.鈥�
The area of forest lost is the largest reported in a January to February period since 2015, which is when INPE introduced a more powerful, high-resolution version of its satellite deforestation alert system,聽.
鈥淭he trend indicated by the DETER system is very worrying. It has shown a continued rate of increase of deforestation in comparison to one year ago,鈥� says Carlos Nobre at the University of S茫o Paulo.
The rate is even higher than it was at the beginning of 2016, when the Amazon was severely affected by a mega-drought driven by the El Ni帽o climate phenomenon. Deforestation rises at times of drought.
This time, Nobre says there is no likely explanation other than illegal loggers emboldened by a lack of law enforcement. 鈥淭he increase in the rates of deforestation cannot be explained by any climatic factor. It is likely to be due solely by the sense of impunity of the environmental criminals that law enforcement is very weak and absent.鈥�
The preliminary data from DETER means official annual deforestation figures for 2020, counted from the start of August 2019 to the end of July 2020, are likely to eclipse those of last year, which saw the highest losses since 2008, says Berenguer.
鈥淯nless there is a strong governmental response to the increase in deforestation, 2020 is panning out to be even worse than 2019,鈥� she says.
