Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon shot up by 150% in December, the last month of Jair Bolsonaro’s term in office, compared to December 2021, according to official statistics released on Friday.
Satellite images reveal that 218.4 km2 of forest were cleared last month in the Brazilian part (60%) of the world’s largest rainforest, according to the DETER monitoring programme. This was way above the 87.2 km2 of forest destroyed one year before, according to the government agency INPE.
Where deforestation is concerned this was the third worst December since the launch of the DETER programme, after those of 2017 and 2015.
During his four years in office, Bolsonaro, who was succeeded on Sunday by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, unleashed an avalanche of international criticism for his destruction of the Amazon rainforest – which is vital to the fight against global warming.
Under Bolsonaro, deforestation went up by 75.5%
Under the far-right president’s government, which is allied to the powerful agribusiness lobby, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was 75.5% higher than a decade ago.
“Bolsonaro’s term in office may be over, but his tragic legacy will be felt for a long time,” Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a coalition of environmental groups, said in a statement.
For the year 2022 as a whole, deforestation reached or approached record levels between August and October, the peak of the dry season. The destruction was due mainly to farmers seeking to increase their land for crops and livestock, activities Bolsonaro always encouraged.
