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View to deforested area on green Amazon rainforest near Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil Alamy Stock Photo

Deforestation of Brazil's Amazon up 22% in a year, highest level in 15 years

13,235 square kilometres of forest was lost from August 2020 to July 2021.

DEFORESTATION IN BRAZIL’S Amazon rainforest rose by almost 22% in one year, the highest level in 15 years, according to new figures that cast doubt on promises by President Jair Bolsonaro’s government to reverse the trend with “forceful” action.

The 13,235 square kilometres of forest lost from August 2020 to July 2021 period was the largest swath since 14,286 square kilometres were cleared in 2005 and 2006, according to an estimate by Brazil’s national space research institute INPE.

It is the third time in a row that annual Amazon deforestation has increased under Bolsonaro, whom the opposition blames for the spike due to his encouraging of farming and mining activity.

Environment Minister Joaquim Leite admitted the figures represent “a challenge” and vowed to be “more forceful against environmental crimes”.

He also insisted the data “does not exactly reflect the situation in the last few months”.

However, last week INPE said it had registered the worst October on record for deforestation, with an area more than half the size of the city of Rio de Janeiro cleared.

The government says it has intensified its attempts to combat illegal deforestation by deploying more troops on the ground.

“To those who still insist on these environmental crimes, [we warn] that the Brazilian state will enter the Amazon with full force,” said the Minister of Justice and Public Security Anderson Torres.

Brazil was among the signatories to an international pledge made at the COP26 summit in Glasgow to end deforestation by 2030.

Bolsonaro went even further by pledging to eliminate illegal deforestation in the giant South American country – home to 60% of the Amazon – by 2028, pulling forward a previous target by two years.

The far-right president came to power in January 2019 with a strong anti-environmentalist message and has been accused by NGOs, indigenous groups and the political opposition of weakening environmental safeguards.

Between August 2018 and July 2019, 10,129 square kilometres of the Amazon were cleared, a spike of 34% over the same period in the previous year, according to INPE.

In the following period, from 2019 to 2020, 10,851 square kilometres were lost, an increase of 7%, despite the deployment of costly military operations to the jungle to confront illegal loggers, miners and ranchers during the most intense periods of Amazon deforestation and fires.

Marcio Astrini, head of the Climate Observatory that brings together environmental groups operating in Brazil, said the latest figures were “the result of a persistent, planned and continuous effort to destroy environmental protection policies” under the Bolsonaro administration.

The Observatory accused the government of hiding the data until after COP26, noting that the document released by INPE – which is affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations – was dated 27 October 2021.

“The government already had deforestation data in its hands when the Scotland climate conference was taking place and deliberately omitted it,” the NGO said in a statement.

The government denied any cover-up. “The information I have is that this was disclosed today,” Minister Leite replied.

© AFP 2021

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Nov 19th 2021, 8:29 AM

    They gotta clear all those trees to make way for farm land to export to the EU, while Ireland has to reduce the herd that actually feeds the EU right now. Some real joined up thinking on climate change is going on here!

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Nov 19th 2021, 9:08 AM

    @Alan Wright: Ireland is more dependent on animal feed imports grown on deforested land than any other country in Europe. The hypocrisy of suggesting it’s ok once the animals are reared here is disgusting. “The main commodities imported are maize and maize byproducts, soyabean meal and soya hulls, and rapeseed meal. Up to 90% of the soyabean and maize products are imported from Argentina, Brazil, and the USA.

    “Our pig, poultry, and dairy sectors are particularly dependent on imports of GM soybean and GM maize by-products. Almost 1.7mt of soya and maize genetically modified (GM) products were imported into Ireland for animal feeds in 2017, constituting approximately 50% of total feed imports.”

    https://www.irishexaminer.com/farming/arid-30832683.html

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    Mute HectorPickaxe
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    Nov 19th 2021, 9:41 AM

    @EillieEs: So if the animals will be reared in Brazil, will they not need the maize and byproducts? If they do then the net affect is still higher. If they don’t, then we shouldn’t need them either, or at least as much of them, and could probably do things in a more sustainable way. I’m not an expert on the subject but your argument doesn’t reall add up either

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    Mute Nicholas Ryan
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    Nov 19th 2021, 10:01 AM

    @EillieEs: research in Ireland has shown that you can feed cows with feed made from native ingredients without sacrificing milk yields and releasing less levels nitrogen into the environment. This may well be a common strategy for Irish farmers in coming years

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    Mute Richard Williamson
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    Nov 19th 2021, 4:46 PM

    @Nicholas Ryan: you are correct. Our dependence on South American and US soya and maize needs to be really reduced. But the economics don’t allow this yet. Surely Ellie it would be better to rear cattle for European food in Ireland rather than deforesting the Amazon?

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    Mute Babs Ruch
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    Nov 19th 2021, 4:57 PM

    @Richard Williamson: instead of debating where cattle should be reared , or where their fodder should come from, how about simply eliminating the root of the problem and phasing out animal farming all together? Use the land to grow soy for human consumption, and with a quarter of the area in use now to grow animal fodder, we can feed the whole world.

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    Mute Contrary Mary
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    Nov 19th 2021, 5:29 PM

    @Alan Wright: Most of this is linked back to the Mennonites who left Peru to settle there about a decade ago. The government knew they would clear much of the land they bought, to farm for selling to local communities. Drug barons are also clearing plots to grow their own illegally. Remember that when taking your next drug of choice in the club.

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    Mute Suzanne Mc Aleenan
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    Nov 19th 2021, 8:18 AM

    They are chopping down the lungs of the world. My dad died in 1985 and even before that time he was furious about the deforestation in Brazil. He always said it’s the worst of the worst thing that could be done.

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    Mute Alan Leahy
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    Nov 19th 2021, 8:53 AM

    @Suzanne Mc Aleenan:
    The Amazon is not the “lungs of the world”.
    It probably uses as much oxygen as it produces.
    That claim has been debunked by scientists several times over.
    Phytoplankton…now there’s your “Lungs of the Earth”

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Nov 19th 2021, 10:10 AM

    @Alan Leahy: Fact-check, please, The Journal.

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Nov 19th 2021, 10:52 AM

    @Fachtna Roe: Can you not look for the fact yourself. Why does every comment have to be accompanied by a thesis. You’ve got Google, look it up.

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    Mute Fachtna Roe
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    Nov 19th 2021, 11:56 AM

    @Alan Wright: I can, I do, and I am. But what about the next person, and the next person after them? One of the problems with people who think only of themselves, is that it rarely occurs to them that others may have people beyond themselves, and a bigger picture, in mind. Interestingly, only 9 days ago you criticised someone else for not “know[ing] the facts of the situation”. An advantage of the theses you now object to is … facts.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Nov 19th 2021, 12:31 PM

    @Suzanne Mc Aleenan: I’m so sorry.

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    Mute Michael Dowling
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    Nov 19th 2021, 9:47 AM

    This is where the greens should spend their time. Lobbying government like Brazil, US, Chinam etc instead of taxing the Irish which will make no difference.

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    Mute Gerben Uunk
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    Nov 19th 2021, 9:26 AM

    Dear Suzanne and Alan you are both right to some extent. ‘Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, bases his calculations on a 2010 study that estimates tropical forests are responsible for around 34 percent of photosynthesis occurring on land. Based on its size, the Amazon would account for about half of that.’ ‘That percentage sinks to 9 percent when taking into account the oxygen produced by phytoplankton in the ocean. (Climate scientist Jonathan Foley, who directs the non-profit Project Drawdown which researches climate change solutions, arrived at a more conservative estimate of 6 percent).’ But every tree cut and not replaced, is one to many. Also as massive (native) trees logging also leads to ground erosion, and has its effects on climate change too. The Amazon it its unique stage it makes a significant contribution to pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, also called carbon locking. Join the revolution for animal rights (native trees reforestation so important), example join Ireland’s only political party to represent the voiceless animals on the planet, to begin with in Ireland, support the Party for Animal Welfare (PAW), an official registered political party since February 2020. Thanks a million, think globally, act locally!

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    Mute Alan Leahy
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    Nov 21st 2021, 1:00 PM

    @Gerben Uunk: Tropical Forrest’s account for 34% photosynthesis. What’s the net oxygen production once you subtract the oxygen the trees use?
    This is the reason people believe tress are the lungs of the world, whereas the reality is they use as much as they produce.

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    Mute Moss Cotter
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    Nov 19th 2021, 9:51 AM

    In the final year of Trump’s presidency a delegation from Bolsonaro’s government flew to Washington and signed various deals with numerous American corporations to as Pompeo put it “to develop the Amazon region”.
    This was reported on the BBC website and I was amazed at how little discussion it provoked at the time.
    I wonder what is the state of play with those deals now?
    The animal, bird and plant species of the area will be destroyed and for what? So that Europeans can feast on cheap beef. The hypocrisy of the EU is shocking in allowing the mercursor deal go ahead but it is hardly surprising.

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    Mute Skinny Melink
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    Nov 19th 2021, 11:54 AM

    Humans inherited a beautiful blue gorgeous planet to share with wonderful plants and creatures endowed with a brain to harness its bounty and bliss. And what do they do with it?..they turn it into a hell hole for invisible money and temporary power. Humans deserve the world they create.

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    Mute Football in the Groin
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    Nov 19th 2021, 10:20 AM

    With the agreement to cut back on deforestation in several years time expect this to accelerate greatly in the coming years.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Nov 19th 2021, 12:31 PM

    Unbelievable. And they’re hounding us. Ughh….

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    Mute ed w
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    Nov 19th 2021, 11:42 AM

    cop 26 effects showing

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    Mute John Mc Donagh
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    Nov 19th 2021, 11:09 AM

    Will yez all belt up? Don’t yez all know that it pales into insignificance when compared with cows, and particularly Irish cows farting!

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    Mute ed w
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    Nov 19th 2021, 11:43 AM

    @John Mc Donagh: belching actually

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