On Monday, the Amazon Environment Institute (IMAZON) revealed that the Brazilian Amazon lost 1,606 square kilometers of forest in August. This is the fifth highest monthly deforestation rate recorded since 2012.
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In the last month, deforestation in the states of Para and Amazonas reached 1,050 square kilometers. From January to August, the Amazon deforested area was also 48 percent larger than in the same period last year.
Livestock prompted by the growing demand for meat is the leading cause of indiscriminate logging in the Amazon, which is the world's largest tropical forest with about 7 million square kilometers. However, mining, major infrastructure projects, and lack of clear property titles also provoke its destruction.
“If we want to prevent the year from ending with the largest deforested area of the decade, we urgently need to adopt more effective actions such as intensifying inspection operations and establishing appropriate punishment for deforestation,” the IMAZON researcher Antonio Fonseca stressed.
The facts, however, show otherwise. On Aug. 3, the Lower House 3 approved a bill issued by President Jair Bolsonaro to ease the regularization of public lands without the authorization of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INCRA).
"Instead of preventing and combating environmental crimes, the Brazilian lawmakers take actions that favor landowners and agribusinesses," NGO Greenpeace denounced, recalling that this policy will worsen the climate crisis.
Following the approval of the bill, European supermarket companies and large food producers sent a letter to Bolsonaro, threatening to boycott Brazilian products if legal initiatives like this continue to go ahead in his country.