Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest increased 14 percent in March compared to a year earlier. This comes according to preliminary official data on Friday (7th), highlighting the ongoing challenges for the new left-leaning government. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office on January 1 and pledged to end deforestation after years of his predecessor, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, ramping up deforestation and curtailing efforts to protect the Amazon. “This surge in numbers shows that the Amazon still suffers from a severe lack of governance and that the new government must act urgently to rebuild its capacity to fight environmental crimes,” said Marcio Astrini, head of local environmental group Climate Observatory.
Brazil officially measures annual deforestation from August to July to limit the influence of cloud cover, which obscures satellite imagery of destruction during the rainy months. In the first eight months of this period, from August 2022 to March 2023, deforestation increased by 39% year-on-year. At the end of February, US climate commissioner John Kerry said in Brasilia that the world can only achieve its climate goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius if it protects the Amazon rainforest. Washington announced earlier this year that it would contribute to the Brazilian Amazon Fund, which supports conservation projects in the jungle region. Norway also pledged its support for Brazil’s efforts to attract more donor countries to the Amazon Fund last month.
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