The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported on Friday that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon decreased 59 percent in September compared to the same month in 2022, going from 1,454.7 to 590.3 square kilometers.
Between January and September of this year, the area destroyed reached 4,302 km2, a little more than half of the 8,590 km2 recorded in the same period of 2022.
However, according to INPE data deforestation increased in the Cerrado biome, a savannah located in the center of Brazil, advancing 89 percent in September in the annual comparison.
In that biome, destruction of 516.7 km2 was reported last September, 89% more than in the same month of 2022 and a record for the month of September since measurements began in 2018. The Cerrado biome occupies 23.3 percent of Brazil's territory.
The tweet reads, "According to data from the National Institute for Space Research ( INPE ), the deforestation rate in the Amazon showed a significant reduction of 42.5% during the first half of this year compared to the same period of the previous year."
The South American country owns 60 percent of the territory of the great Amazon rainforest. The region is currently experiencing an extreme drought enhanced by the El Niño phenomenon, which has lowered river levels and is keeping authorities on alert.
Amid this situation, the federal government sent reinforcements to the state of Amazonas to fight the fires and guarantee the supply of water and food to the population.
The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which took office on January 1, resumed fines and penalties for environmental crimes, especially in the Amazon rainforest, in order to reduce the advance of deforestation in the region.
The trend of reduction of deforestation coincides with the first months of the government of President Lula, who has pledged to reverse the rates of deforestation recorded during the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro. During his administration, the Amazon deforestation advanced 75 percent compared to the average of the previous decade.