Brazilian Amazon deforestation rate drops 11.27%

BRASILIA: The Deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by 11.27 per cent between August 2021 and July 2022 year-on-year, data released by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) revealed.

According to Inpe, some 11,568 square kilometres of forests were lost during the last 12 months, compared to 13,038 square kilometres during the previous 12 months, reports Xinhua news agency.

The figures were compiled in an annual report issued by Prodes, a project for remote sensing deforestation rates in the Amazon. It is considered the most accurate mechanism for measuring forest loss.

Over the past two decades, the deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon peaked in 2004, when 27,700 square kilometres of forest were lost.

In 2012, a record-low of 4,500 square kilometres were deforested, although, since 2015, deforestation has accelerated.

Brazil's government says it is committed to the goals established at successive editions of the UN Conference on Climate Change to end illegal deforestation by 2030.