Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) released last week show a 51% drop in Amazon deforestation from August 2009 to February 2010, compared to the same period previously. An area equivalent to 1,352 km² was deforested, compared to the 2,781 km² deforested in the previous period. There is no data available for the month of December because the whole area was covered by clouds.
The minister of the Environment, Izabella Teixeira, said the data reported are due to the "proper planning" of the entities involved in fighting deforestation. She also highlighted the actions of the Green Arc Operation, which provides sustainable alternatives for Amazonian populations, and the Farmland Environmental Registry (Cadastro Ambiental Rural - CAR). "This is the most important step for environmental regularization of rural properties, because it ensures the environmental protection", she said.
At the end of last year, the Federal Government released the lowest deforestation rate of the Brazilian Amazon registered in the last 21 years, when monitoring began. From August 2008 to July 2009, 7 thousand km² was deforested.
The minister Izabella said that in April the agencies involved in combating deforestation will meet in Brasília to assess the numbers of deforestation in 2009. The discussions will address the numbers and monitoring of deforestation in protected areas; rural settlements; public policies; and the National Plan on Climate Change, which has the goal of reducing Amazon deforestation by 80% by 2020. Izabella believes that Brazil will achieve this goal before 2020.
After about 10 months of the implementation of the Green Arc Operation in the region, the actions carried out in the target municipalities are already showing results. For example, from the 43 municipalities in the list of those which have higher deforestation rates, 12 of them presented, in 2008, a drop of over 80% in the deforestation; 18 registered a decrease between 54% and 80%; and only one had registered an increase in the deforestation rate (34%) in 2009.
Redes Sociais