Amazon Forest faces 150 times more deforestation in 2022 than in 2021
During the ruling of Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil’s right-wing, a record amount of deforestation in the Amazon took place in 2022, which was about 150 percent more than the deforestation rate of 2021. A Brazilian government report has published the news.
Satellite images show that 218 square kilometers of Amazon Forest got destroyed in December 2022. Brazil’s National Space Agency (INPE) has captured the situation.
According to INPE’s satellite image analysis, 87 square kilometers of deforestation occurred in the Amazon in December 2021. Compared to that, in December 2022, more than one and a half hundred percent of forests have been deforested.
Bolsonaro’s term ended in Brazil’s presidential election in December 2022. He has defeated by the left-wing presidential candidate Lula da Silva.
The international community has been vocal about massive deforestation in the Amazon during Bolsonaro’s time in power. Environmentalists believe that the climate has been dramatically damaged by destroying the world’s lungs, the Amazon Forest.
During Bolsonaro’s four years in office, the Amazon has seen an average of 75 percent more deforestation each year than in the previous decade. Bolsonaro’s agribusiness friends were involved in it.
Marcio Astirini, an environmentalist and climate watcher, said Bolsonaro’s government is over, but the damage he has done to the environment could last for years.
Experts say that large farm companies and land grabbers for farming and ranching are responsible for deforestation. Moreover, Bonsonaro helped them in this work.
However, President Lula significantly reduced deforestation during his power from 2003 to 2010. He also promised to reduce deforestation to zero by strengthening Brazil’s environmental protection programs.
