27276-quatro-decadas-de-desmatamento]

According to estimates of the INPE and the UN, in the year 1970 the Amazon rainforest covered 4,100,000 km2 of Brazilian territory.
Four decades later, more than 750,000 square kilometers of forest were deforested, meaning that around 20% of the existing forest in 1970 has already been destroyed; and 91% of this land deforested since 1970 is used for grazing of cattle, in spite of the Amazon rainforest is the richest biome in species of the world.

Below you can see how the forest landscape has changed in these last four decades.

Below you can see historical imagery of 1975 available in Google Earth and catalogued by the Landsat images from 1984, and by comparing them with recent images of these regions, we have a frightening vision of how much forest was felled in 44 years.

Acronyms of Brazilian states:
AM - Amazonas
RO - Rondônia
PA - Pará

Apuí - AM - 16th August 1985