The drop in Amazon deforestation recorded in July by the Real Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER) from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) indicate that, despite the fires that have proliferated in the country, fires and deforestation are no longer necessarily linked. The assessment was made on Tuesday (August 31) by Minister Izabella Teixeira, at a press conference at the Ministry of the Environment in Brasília.
The data reported from August 2009 to July 2010 show a fall of 48% in deforestation over the same period in 2008-2009, confirming the downward trend of deforested areas in the Amazon Rainforest. This time an area of 485 km2 was cleared, of which more than half was in the state of Pará, which lost 237 km2 of its vegetation cover. Compared with the previous period, the deforested area dropped from 4,400 hectares to 2,300 hectares.
However, although deforestation is decreasing in several states, it presents an upward trend in the state of Amazonas. Between August 2009 and July 2010, deforestation increased in Apuí, municipality along the BR-319, which connects Porto Velho (Rondônia) to Manaus.
Fires
At the press conference, Minister Izabella Teixeira also announced data indicating that the fires in the country are concentrated in the Cerrado biome. More than 67% of the fire spots are located in private areas, 13% are in indigenous areas, 8% in agrarian reform settlements and 7% in protected areas.
IBAMA and ICMBio informed that the Federal Government has already invested R$ 30 million in actions to combat the fires throughout the country. These actions involves more than five thousand firemen, eight aircrafts, seven helicopters and at least 90 vehicles, working in all 109 critical areas.
The institutions also announced an additional of R$ 20 million for continuing the actions until mid-September when the rains return to region.
Redes Sociais