Preliminary INPE data showed deforestation rose a further 25 percent in the first five months of 2021 from a year ago. General view of a tract of the Amazon jungle which burns as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Apui, Amazonas State, Brazil, on Aug Last year the region also recorded the most fires since 2017, the agency said.īolsonaro has been widely criticised for his “ exploitative” approach to natural resources and faces international outcry that Brazil is not doing enough to stop destruction of the Amazon, a vital bulwark to climate change. The decree, published in the official government gazette on Tuesday, comes a day after Bolsonaro redeployed the military in an effort to stop deforestation in the world’s largest rainforest.ĭeforestation has soared under the far-right leader, hitting a 12-year-high in 2020 as an area seven times the size of London was cut down, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
As Brazil reels from its worst drought in decades, President Jair Bolsonaro has issued a broad 120-day ban on unauthorised outdoor fires ahead of the annual burning season in the Amazon rainforest.
