The creation of Protected Areas (Conservation Units and Indigenous Lands) has been one of the most effective strategies against deforestation in the Amazon. These areas, which occupy about 44% of the Amazon, play an essential role in the conservation of natural resources (especially biodiversity) and maintenance of environmental services, in addition to guaranteeing the rights of traditional and indigenous populations.
The challenge now is to ensure the effective protection of these territories against illegal deforestation, predatory logging and the risks of disaffection. In addition, it is necessary to advance in the process of consolidation of these areas with the elaboration and implementation of land management and regularization plans (where necessary).
The deforested area from January to June reached 4,014 km², 55% more than in the same period last year
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon region from January to June is already the highest in 10 years, according to Imazon. The research center that monitors the forest through satellite images published that the deforested area in this year reached 4,014 km², 55% more than in the same period in 2020.
Only in June of this year, the destruction of the forest reached 926 km². This number represents the third-highest of the decade for June. “We had already been following this increase in deforestation every month, with negative records. In March, April, and May, the deforested areas were the largest in the last ten years for each month”, explains Antonio Fonseca, Imazon’s researcher.
The June data also showed that only two of the nine states in the Brazilian Amazon registered 61% of all deforestation in the biome: Pará and Amazonas. Both added up 568 km² of deforested area in the period.
