Deforestation of Brazil’s portion of the Amazon rainforest is now happening at nearly double the rate it was last year, as Bolsonaro delivers on campaign promises.
Deforestation in Brazil’s portion of the Amazon rainforest soared more than 88% in June compared with the same month a year ago, according to Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research.
The agency uses satellite imaging to track deforestation in the country, Reuters reports.
In June alone, Brazil lost a chunk of rainforest almost the size of New York City (355 square miles). That’s the size of one and a half soccer fields being cut down every minute.
This is the second month in a row the rate of deforestation is on the rise. It rose 34% in May compared with the same month a year ago.
The rainy season held off the spike in deforestation for Bosonaro’s first four months in office. But since it started drying up in May, it appears to be open season on clear-cutting the world’s largest rainforest.
“Over the past six months, Bolsonaro and his environment minister have been devoting themselves to the dismantling of the Brazilian environmental governance and neutralizing regulatory bodies”, Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of the environmental NGO Observatorio de Clima, told CNN.
Brazil is home to 60% of the Amazon, which is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. The entire world relies on the country to maintain global climate equilibrium.
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