New Scientist - July 27, 2019

6 | New Scientist | 27 July 2019

BEFORE July is even over, satellite

images suggest this will be a

landmark month for destruction

of Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest.

More than 1250 square kilometres

were lost between 1 and 22 July,

figures from Brazil’s National

Institute for Space Research (INPE)

reveal – more than double the area

cleared in the whole of the same

month last year (see graph, below).

The world’s greatest rainforest

is home to around 400 indigenous

groups and a rich diversity of

species. It is also a vital store of

carbon. Increasing deforestation

of the Amazon makes it much

more difficult for us to reduce

our global carbon emissions,

says Mark Maslin at University

College London.

This deforestation has

accelerated since Jair Bolsonaro

became Brazil’s president in

January. So far this year, more than

3700 square kilometres appear to

have been lost – an area about a

fifth the size of Wales.

The law hasn’t changed: Brazil’s

decades-old forest code means

landowners should be fined if

more than a fifth of their land

is deforested. But Bolsonaro has

said that the rainforest should

be exploited “in a reasonable

way” and has sought to reduce the

size of scores of protected areas.

The change in government

rhetoric is driving landowners and

entrepreneurs to deforest because

of a lower threat of government

intervention, says Maslin.

The satellite data used to assess

this year’s damage is intended for

agencies so they can quickly detect

and act on deforestation. The way

it is collected isn’t designed to

tell us about annual trends, but

experts say it already looks likely

that the full year’s data will show

a big increase when released in a

few months. Last week, Bolsonaro

said the data “lies”.

“What we are observing is

shocking but not a surprise,”

says Carlos Rittl of the Climate

Observatory, a São Paulo-based

group of non-governmental

organisations.

Through a freedom of

information request to Brazil’s

environment agency, he has

discovered that the number

of government enforcement

operations in the Amazon region

was down 70 per cent between

January and April compared

with the same period last year.

“What we can tell is that

people are feeling more enabled

by the government,” says Erika

Berenguer at the University of

Oxford, who met landowners

during a recent visit to Brazil.

Individual cases of

deforestation have also been

detected by satellite monitoring

beyond Brazil’s own schemes. The

Global Land Analysis & Discovery

lab at the University of Maryland

had 75 per cent more real-time

deforestation alerts in June than

last year. “We’re definitely seeing

a lot more alerts,” says Mikaela

Weisse of the US-based non-profit

World Resources Institute, which

works with the lab.

The big driver is to clear land for

beef production, rather than the

value of the timber or to make

space to grow oil palms or soya

beans, says Berenguer. Typically,

gangs use a chain slung between

two tractors to knock down trees

at an industrial scale. Once dry

enough, the felled trees are burned

to clear the ground for ranching.

It isn’t possible using satellite

data alone to say that the clearance

is definitely for ranching, but

Weisse says the straight shapes

and the size of the areas follow

the same trend as land cleared

for cattle pastures in the past.

Based on the preliminary data,

it is thought that the full year’s

data, which will cover August

2018 to July 2019, could show an

annual rise in deforestation of as

much as 10 per cent. This would

be relatively small compared with

the early noughties, when tens of

thousands of square kilometres

were being deforested annually.

But it would mark a significant

departure from the past decade of

relatively low, stable deforestation.

Fred Arruda, Brazil’s ambassador

to the UK, noted that deforestation

fell by 72 per cent between 2004

and 2018. “The historical trend

is undeniably still quite positive.

Nonetheless, we acknowledge

the challenges ahead of us,” he

says. “We have been working to

make sure our historical trend

remains on track.” ❚

News

Deforestation

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Land grab in the Amazon

Deforestation has rocketed in Brazil since Jair Bolsonaro became

president in January, reports Adam Vaughan

In this satellite image,

recently exposed soil is

orange and cattle ranches

are light green

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July 2019

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest

accelerated rapidly this July compared with

the same month in the past three years

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