Deforestation in the Amazon has reached extreme levels

In October alone, about 904 square kilometers of rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon were cut down. This was announced yesterday (local time) by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), citing preliminary figures. According to the Brazilian news portal G1, it is the highest value for October since 2015. INPE is evaluating satellite images.

The Brazilian Amazon, a major CO2 sink, stretches across nine Brazilian states and is the size of Western Europe by area. “Protecting the Amazon is crucial to fighting the climate crisis,” said Andre Freitas of Greenpeace Brazil. “Without a healthy rainforest, the global climate is threatened.”

It increased sharply under Bolsonaro

Deforestation and fires are on the rise again after an earlier decline during the tenure of ousted right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. Environmental and climate protection organizations hope the rate will drop under Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s future government.

In his previous term from the beginning of 2003 until the end of 2010, Lula had not considered the Green Party, but now he has promised to promote environmental and climate protection in the future.

Required measures

The new government faces a major challenge. But if Brazil wants to regain leadership in the global climate debate, it must take urgent action.”

Lula of the left-wing Labor Party has announced that he will attend the global climate summit in Egypt next week. A delegation of indigenous Brazilians is already participating in the summit. “We want to draw attention to our situation and seek dialogue in order to have hope for tomorrow,” said young indigenous activist Janyo Kaiwa.