Brazil deforested 10,000 square km of Amazon rainforest in 2019, up 34% on year
(Reuters, 11 Jun 2020) An area of Brazil's Amazon rainforest about the size of Lebanon was cleared last year, a 34.4% rise from a year earlier.
Deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest was worse than previously reported in 2019, revised government data showed on Tuesday, during the first year of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is keen to develop the forest crucial to curbing global warming.
Brazil's space research agency INPE recorded 10,129 square kilometers of deforestation (3,911 square miles) for its benchmark annual period from August 2018 to July 2019. That's an area about the size of Lebanon and a 34.4% rise from the same period a year earlier.
The revision is higher than INPE's initial report of 9,762 square kilometers of forest destroyed during that period, an increase of 29.5%.
The 2019 data remains the highest level of deforestation seen in Brazil's Amazon since 2008, a level it had already hit prior to the revision.
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Reuters, 11 Jun 2020: Brazil deforested 10,000 square km of Amazon rainforest in 2019, up 34% on yearShare this on social media
