Deforestation alerts registered by the federal government in the Amazon fell 45.7% in the period from August 2023 to July 2024. The number of 4,314.76 square kilometers (km²) deforested, the lowest in the historical series that began in 2016, was recorded by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) through the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER), and occurs after a period in which a drop of 7.4% had already been detected – from August 2022 to July 2023.
Deter monitoring indicates the trend in the annual deforestation rate, always measured from August to July by another Inpe system, the Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Legal Amazon by Satellite (Prodes).
Deforestation data in the Cerrado reveal a 9% increase in deforestation in the biome, which is also a record since the beginning of alerts under this methodology, in 2017. Approximately 7,015 km² were deforested between August of last year and July of this year, compared to 6,341 km² reported in the previous 12 months. According to the government, however, in the last four months a downward trend in the suppression of native vegetation in this environment has been observed.
The figures were released this Wednesday (7), during a press conference held by the Ministries of Environment and Climate Change and Science, Technology and Innovation. The Minister of Environment, Marina Silva, highlighted the fact that all the axes of the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) are fully operational, not only the “environmental monitoring and control” activities.
“An equally important part is ‘territorial and land management’. Deforestation also decreases when we correctly allocate areas that have not yet been allocated, whether they are conservation units, indigenous lands, other areas that have not yet been allocated, even private lands. The goal is to achieve zero deforestation. And this planning axis is fundamental,” he noted.
Disclosure of deforestation alert data from the Deter system, by Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil
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The Amazon region recorded an absolute reduction of 3.6 thousand km² of forest in the annual interval. Specifically in the month of July 2024, there was a 33% increase in deforestation alerts compared to 2023. According to João Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary of the MMA, the month of July is usually the highest in terms of deforestation. In addition, last month’s alerts occurred after the year 2023, in which there was a large reduction in deforestation.
“At the end of 2023, we already had extremely positive data that encouraged us a lot and showed that we were able to change the scenario of deforestation evolution, which has now been confirmed. The new data is not only lower, but it is much lower than the reduction rate last year. So it really shows that we are on a different path,” he analyzes.
The data shows that the decrease in deforestation occurred throughout the region, including in the four states considered most critical in environmental violations: Pará, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Rondônia; and in all land categories.
For Luciana Santos, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, the data is a sign that public policies to combat environmental irregularities are working. “We continue to improve our monitoring work, producing information with the aim of meeting the goals and international agreements to which Brazil is a signatory, and with the conviction that confronting global warming is urgent and necessary today. We need to systematically and decisively implement measures that will help curb deforestation,” she said.
Brasília, (DF), 08/07/2024 – Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos during the release of deforestation alert data from the Detec- Valter Campanato/Agency Brazil
Government representatives also highlighted that the result in the region occurs after the launch, in June 2023, of the new Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAm).
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Deforestation data in the Cerrado have been recording consecutive increases in Deter alerts since 2019/2020. According to the Climate Observatory, the higher records in this biome suggest that environmental destruction for agricultural production purposes such as meat and soy may be moving from the forest to the savannah. According to a note released by the entity, in this region there is “less control by the federal government because the lands are almost all private, the legal limit for deforestation is higher”, in addition to the fact that licenses for cutting vegetation are granted with less parsimony by the states of the Federation.
According to the MMA executive secretary, however, the monthly accumulated curves from previous years show that there was a projection of more pronounced deforestation, which was not confirmed thanks to the efforts that have been made, including the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Fires in the Cerrado Biome (PPCerrado). “We believe that this data indicates that we will enter a cycle of consistent reduction in deforestation in the coming years,” predicted Capobianco.
