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In January 2022, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit the highest levels for the month of January since satellite monitoring began, according to new government data.
An estimated 430 square kilometers (166 square miles) of the Amazon rainforest was cleared last month – up 418 percent compared to January 2021 – according to the Brazilian Space Agency INPE’s DETER-B deforestation monitoring system, which keeps tabs on deforestation using satellites.
The levels are the highest seen in January since DETER-B was launched in 2016. December to March is the wet and rainy season in the Amazon, so levels of deforestation are typically lower than the fire-prone dry season between May and November. That means we can expect to see even higher levels of deforestation in the Amazon as the year gets rolling.
This record January high comes just months after the COP26 climate talks where over 100 countries – including Brazil – agreed to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Environmentalists say this new data shows how the Brazilian government is not taking its climate pledges seriously, despite their bold public proclamations.
“Even in January, when deforestation is usually lower due to the rainy season in the Amazon region, destruction has dramatically skyrocketed,” Cristiane Mazzetti, spokesperson for Greenpeace Brazil, said in a statement.
“Just weeks ago, this government had delayed the release of annual deforestation numbers that revealed a massive increase and then told the world that it was resolving deforestation in Glasgow. The new data yet again exposes how the government’s actions contradict its greenwashing campaigns,” she added.
Deforestation spells catastrophe for the Amazon’s rich biodiversity, climate change, and Indigenous communities that rely on the forest. Analysis by Greenpeace Brazil found that 22.5 percent of the forested area cleared between January 1 and January 21 occurred in the “unearmarked public land,” likely targeted by illegal land-grabbers clearing the forest to make way for agriculture.
Some of the steepest increases in deforestation occurred in the Brazilian Amazon between 1991 and 2003. While rates of rainforest destruction have still not yet reached the levels seen in the early 2000s, the past few years have seen another resurgence of land clearing. This recent spurt is all unpinned by the strong global demand for agricultural products, such as beef and soya beans, as well as Jair Bolsonaro's government and their ties to agribusiness.
“The government, in fact, has created a golden opportunity for those who want to clear forests illegally or seize public lands; there is a deliberate lack of environmental inspection and many of those behind this wave of illegal deforestation are also expecting the Brazilian congress to pass legislation that will reward land-grabbing a practice connected with at least one third of all deforestation in the Amazon,” explained Mazzetti.
