ARTICLE 1
The number of trees cut down in the Brazilian Amazon in January far exceeded
deforestation for the same month last year, according to government satellite data.
The area destroyed was five times larger than 2021, the highest January total since
records began in 2015.
Environmentalists accuse Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro of allowing
deforestation to accelerate.
Protecting the Amazon is essential if we are to tackle climate change.
Trees are felled for their wood as well as to clear spaces to plant crops to supply
global food companies.
At the climate change summit COP26 in Glasgow last year, more than 100 governments
promised to stop and reverse deforestation by 2030.
The latest satellite data from Brazil's space agency Inpe again calls into question
the Brazilian government's commitment to protecting its huge rainforest, say
environmentalists.
"The new data yet again exposes how the government's actions contradict its
greenwashing campaigns," explains Cristiane Mazzetti of Greenpeace Brazil.
Greenpeace are calling on supermarkets in the UK and elsewhere to drop suppliers
who are involved in deforestation from their meat and dairy supply chains
suppliers.
Deforestation totalled 430 square kilometres (166 square miles) in January - an
area more than seven times the size of Manhattan, New York.
Which countries are cutting down trees?
The illegal Brazilian gold you may be wearing
An indigenous leader trying to protect the Amazon
Felling large numbers of trees at the start of the year is unusual because the
rainy season usually stops loggers from accessing dense forest.
Brazil's vast rainforest absorbs huge amounts of greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere, acting as what's known as a carbon sink. But the more trees cut down,
the less the forest can soak up emissions.
6:09
A logger, an environmental policeman, a cattle rancher and an environmentalist
share their views on the Amazon's future
But the area is also home to communities who say they need to use the forest for
mining and commercial farming in order to make a living.
At the same time, indigenous communities living in the Amazon fight to protect the
rainforest and their ways of life.
Mr Bolsonaro has weakened environmental protections for the region and argued that
the government should exploit the area to reduce poverty.
line
Analysis box by Matt McGrath, environment correspondent
There are a number of factors driving this level of deforestation.
Strong global demand for agricultural commodities such as beef and soya beans is
fuelling some of these illegal clearances - Another is the expectation that a new
law will soon be passed in Brazil to legitimise and forgive land grabbing.
The Brazilian government argues that in the period between August last year and
January 2022, overall deforestation was lower compared to the same period twelve
months ago.
Environmentalists say that they are not surprised by the record January felling,
given that President Bolsonaro has significantly weakened legal protections since
he took office in 2019.
At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, Mr Bolsonaro was one of the world
leaders who promised to halt and reverse deforestation by the end of this decade.
Political observers argue that despite this change in tone, the policies on the
ground remain the same.
ARTICLE 2
Beauty and destruction: the state of the Amazon rainforest – in pictures
Deforestation area in Maranhão on November 29, 2011 Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest, but in the last 40 years at least 20%
of it has been destroyed. The Amazon basin covers nine countries in South America,
with 60% of it in Brazil, and for a decade local photographer Rodrigo Baleia has
documented the beauty and destruction of the region from above
All photographs by Rodrigo Baleia, words by Naomi Larsson Piñeda
Mon 30 Jan 2017 12.30 GMTLast modified on Tue 13 Feb 2024 15.27 GMT
A road through the forest area of Mato Grosso, a large state in west-central
Brazil. The Amazon basin is home to the largest rainforest on Earth, and the second
longest river (after the Nile). Despite both local and governmental attempts to
protect it, in the last 40 years one-fifth of the forest has been razed.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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A car cross the road in rainforest area in Mato Grosso
The remnants of trees after forest fires in Mato Grosso in 2008. Mato Grosso had
historically been one of the highest areas for deforestation in the Amazon – by
2008 38% of the area that had originally been forests was cleared. The state
government then decided to take action and developed a plan for the control of
deforestation and fires.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Tree ashes after Forest fires in Mato Grosso on July 06, 2008
A harvester at work in a soya crop in Mato Grosso – soy production has been a main
driver of deforestation in the Amazon since the 1990s, especially in this state.
Since 2006, leaders in the industry agreed to a moratorium on farming soy on newly
cleared land, as a direct result of a Greenpeace campaign.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Harvester work in Soya crop in Mato Grosspo on July 07, 2010
Cattle shelter from the sun under a tree in Mato Grosso. Cattle grazing accounts
for around 70% of deforestation in the Amazon. According to Mongabay, most of the
cattle ranches have low productivity, with much of the driving force behind this to
establish land claims.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Cattle shelter from the sun in the small tree in Mato Grosso on July 07, 2010
Charcoal ovens in Maranhão, a north-eastern state of Brazil. Brazil is one of the
world’s largest consumers of wood charcoal. Brazil also has the largest renewable
energy market in Latin America, generating up to 70% of electricity from renewable
sources. But this still has its negative impacts on the environment, with
hydroelectric dams displacing and destroying livelihoods of indigenous communities.
The Belo Monte dam is the most contentious; set to be the world’s fourth largest,
it would generate 11,000 MW of energy, but at the cost of the welfare of local
communities.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Coal ovens in Maranhão on November 29, 2011.
One of Brazil’s protected trees. Since 2000 Brazil has established the world’s
largest network of protected areas to conserve the environment, spanning at least
1.5m sq km. Brazil has seen an 80% reduction of deforestation in the Amazon in the
last decade, but in recent years there has been a worrying upturn in deforestation.
So in December 2016, the government pledged the ‘largest restoration commitment
made by any nation’ to re-establish by 2030 12m hectares of forest land that has
been degraded or deforested.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Trees of the chestnut tree in north of Para on October 03, 2012 The chestnut tree
is protected by federal law and during deforestation it is the only species that
remains. The solitary trees might survive a few years.
Logging is a major cause of destruction in the Amazon. Brazil has committed to zero
illegal deforestation by 2030. Illegal logging is especially prevalent, and a
Greenpeace investigation in 2015 found the Brazilian government’s policies to
tackle illegal logging were flawed. Greenpeace found loggers were harvesting timber
illegally, and were laundering the wood and labelling it as legal.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Truck transporting logs along a road in Amazon Biome on September 09, 2009.
A deforested area in Maranhão. Deforestation has a wide reaching impact. Tropical
forests are important carbon sinks, and when they are destroyed carbon is released
into the atmosphere, accelerating the rate of climate change. It is estimated that
ending deforestation could reduce annual global greenhouse gas emissions by up to
30%.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Deforestation area in Maranhão on November 29, 2011
The Amazon is home to an estimated 16,000 tree species and 390bn individual trees.
But a 2015 study found 57% would be in danger if current rates of deforestation
continued.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Amazon Rainforest in Amazon Biome on Macapa in May 15, 2010
Tractors use chains during soil cleaning for soybean crop. In general, soy
production has an indirect impact on deforestation – soy expansion drives up land
prices, which in turn encourages infrastructure developments and displaces cattle
ranchers, both of which lead to deforestation.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Tractors use chains during soil cleaning for soybean crop.
Cattle are raised in the Amazon region before they’re sold to slaughterhouses. Data
from the Brazilian government suggests that more than 60% of deforested land ends
up as land for cattle.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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cattle in the Amazon
Truck transporting logs along a road in Mato Grosso. Much of the produce from the
Amazon – beef, leather, timber, soy, for example – are exported to China, Europe
and the US. But in recent years private companies have been responsive to consumer
demands for more sustainable commodities.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Truck transporting logs along a road in Mato Grosso on July 07, 2010
Many local people are fighting to preserve the forests themselves, but it is often
dangerous work. The worst year on record for killings of environmental activists
was 2015, with the most deaths (50) in Brazil. Almost 40% of victims were from
indigenous groups. Conflicts over mining, agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and
logging were the main causes of violence.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Tractor groups timber logs in the north of Para on October 03, 2012
Most people living in the Amazon live in cities or towns, but there are about 240
tribes living in Brazil, making up around 0.4% of Brazil’s population. The
government has recognised 690 territories for its indigenous population, almost all
of it in the Amazon. A recent study by the World Resources Institute (pdf) found
that local people were best placed to look after the forests, and that community-
managed forests delivered greater carbon storage.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Boat on the Amazon river
A drought in 2010 was considered the worst in the Amazon basin in the last 100
years. It was said to be further evidence of the region’s vulnerability to rising
global temperatures.
Photograph: Rodrigo Baleia
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Low water level on the Amazon River as a drought hits the Amazon basin on September
27, 2010 in Anori, Brazil.
