Brazil reveals highest deforestation figures in a decade as activists warn Bolsonaro will make issue worse
Illegal logging and agriculture creeping into jungle land blamed for devastating rise
Deforestation in Brazil has risen to its highest level in a decade, with 7,900 sq km of the Amazon rainforest felled just in the last 12 months.
New figures released on Friday by Brazil’s government show deforestation has risen by 13.7 per cent since the same time last year.
Environmental experts have blamed the rise on illegal logging and on agriculture creeping into land previously dominated by the jungle.
Deforestation is a key cause of global warming and accounts for around 15 per cent of annual emissions of heat-trapping gases, such as carbon dioxide.
Its impact on emissions is similar to that of the transport industry.
The practice is particularly devastating in the Amazon, as scientists consider the forest to be a key “carbon sink”, meaning it is one of the few places in the world which absorbs large amounts of the gases responsible for global warming.
The jungle is also rich in biodiversity, containing billions of species yet to be studied.
Both Greenpeace Brazil and the Climate Observatory said they were worried deforestation would increase after Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president-elect, takes office in January.
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