RIO DE JANEIRO New data from the Brazilian space research institute indicates a surge in deforestation in the Amazon in the last quarter.
RIO DE JANEIRO — New data from the Brazilian space research institute indicates a surge in deforestation in the Amazon in the last quarter.
Figures published Tuesday by the National Institute for Space Research show that more forest was lost between May and July this year than during the same period in 2018, 2017 and 2016.
In July alone, the rainforest lost 2,254 square kilometers (870 square miles) of vegetation, between three and five times the surfaces lost the same month in the past four years.
This is the biggest surge in deforestation rates since the institute adopted its current methodology in 2014.
President Jair Bolsonaro took office Jan. 1 and critics fear the climate skeptic’s pro-agrobusiness policies will accelerate deforestation.
Friday, the institute’s president left his position after Bolsonaro criticized deforestation data.
