Amazon, the largest forest in the world, is with the highest destruction
By Amila Khan
The world’s largest forest, the Amazon, is under threat of the highest deforestation in the last 20 years. According to an unofficial survey by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) on December 1, 2020.
The BBC reported that 11,088 square kilometres of Amazon forest had deforested in the last year which 9.5 per cent more than the previous year
After 2008, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has reached its highest level in a year. From August 2019 to July 2020, 11,088 square kilometres (4,281 square miles) of rainforest has destroyed.
Amazon is the largest absorber of carbon in the world due to billions of small and large trees of all kinds. Environmentalists believe that global warming will increase if these plants are reduced or deforested.
Experts say deforestation on the Amazon has accelerated since Jair Bolsonaro sworn in as Brazil’s president in January 2019. He has encouraged agriculture and mining activities inside the world’s largest rainforest.
The Amazon is home of about 3 million species of plants and animals and at least 1 million indigenous peoples.
According to the latest published information, Amazon is quite alarming. However, the year before Balsonaro took charge (2016), INPE reported deforestation of an area of 7,536 sqm. Amazon has lost its significant forest due to Bolsonaro’s relaxation policy. These figures, however, will be drafted and official statistics will release early next year.
However, Brazil’s goal was to reduce the amount of deforestation to 3,000 square kilometres per year by 2020. Bolsonaro is left out here. Brazil’s controversial president has cut funding for state agencies that have the power to punish or fair farmers or timber smugglers working on the Amazon in violation of environmental laws. In this way, the rate of deforestation in the Amazon has increased a lot.
Although government officials say different things, they say the rate of deforestation has decreased compared to last year, which is an indicator of improvement.
“There is no need to celebrate here, there are indications that the efforts we are making can hope for something better in the future,” said Hamilton Moura, Brazil’s vice president.
David Sukman, the BBC’s Science Editor on the disappearance of the Amazon rainforest, said: “Last year I saw the silent consequences of deforestation when huge areas of trees were bulldozed and set on fire. This has done to be used as cattle grazing and to increase the cultivation of profitable crop soybean.”
Once upon a time, it said, every minute the equivalent of a football field deforested. But soon the equation has passed, this year Amazon has seen the highest fires in a decade.
