Institute points to destruction in Amazon of 1,197 km² in April alone; an area the size of the capital of RJ

Iury Lima – Cenarium Magazine

VILHENA (RO) – The wound opened by deforestation in the Amazon forest is spreading in a way never seen before; this is what the Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) points out for another month in a row: 1,197 square kilometers of destruction in April alone, 185 square kilometers more than the estimate of deforestation alerts from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), released last week. In all this area, according to the study, it would be possible to build a city the size of the capital of Rio de Janeiro.

“The fact that deforestation has reached values higher than one thousand square kilometers in one of the months that make up the ‘Amazon winter’ is very worrying and points to a tendency for even higher rates, which may be reached during the drier season”, evaluated Imazon researcher Larissa Amorim to CENARIUM.

And things, or rather, the forests, can literally heat up even more. The lack of enforcement by the Bolsonaro Government, which has curbed only 2% of the devastation since the beginning of his mandate; the increasing damage caused to the biomes, estimated and corroborated every thirty days by official data; the dismantling that devastates agencies responsible for command and control actions and, climate denialism, put the country in an increasingly galloping pace towards the reality of a frightening alert from PrevisIA, Artificial Intelligence (AI) of Imazon – the loss of a total of 15 thousand square kilometers of forests by July, less than two months from now.

Worst April in 15 years

The deforestation of the Amazon had already closed the year 2021 as the worst of the last decade, with more than 10 thousand square kilometers, or seven times the city of São Paulo. This time, in April, it reached the worst mark for the period in 15 years, since Imazon started monitoring with satellite images in 2008. As it was, also, in February, with the worst mark in 15 years and destruction the size of Fortaleza, as well as the closing of the first quarter of 2022, the most disastrous in almost two decades.

To get an idea of how expressive the increase is, in April 2008, 156 square kilometers were devastated, that is, 1,041 square kilometers less. When the comparison considers the month of April 2021, the increase has more than doubled: 54%.

These are data that, for Imazon, serve as “a sign of urgency and actions should be implemented before the estimate [of PrevisIA] of 15 thousand square kilometers felled is materialized”.

“We hope that PrevisIA gets it wrong, because we want its data to help guide effective actions to avoid deforestation. However, unfortunately, we are seeing the forecast becoming reality,” lamented Imazon’s Researcher, Carlos Souza Jr.

Mato Grosso, again

The leadership that, for a good part of last year was occupied by Pará, for the fourth consecutive month this year is held by the State of Mato Grosso. Alone, the Federative Unit destroyed 372 square kilometers: 31% of all devastation that occurred in April.

Amazonas was second in the ranking, with 348 square kilometers, and Pará was third with 243 square kilometers.

“Together, these three states concentrate about 80% of all deforestation detected in the Legal Amazon in the month of April,” highlighted Larissa Amorim. “In addition, destruction also advanced in the protected areas of the State of Pará and, also, in the region known as ‘Amacro’, which is an agribusiness hub located in the south of the State of Amazonas and in parts of Rondônia and Acre,” added the researcher.

Who pays the bill

What happens in the Amazon has a direct impact on the way of life of societies and on the climate of the entire planet. However, those who pay the first bill are always the traditional peoples. According to data from Imazon, the Yanomami Indigenous Land (TI), which has suffered so much from abandonment, invasion, deforestation, illegal mining, and the risk of a new genocide, is at the top of the list of risk calculated by PrevisIA.

In April, the territory located between Amazonas and Roraima, was the second most affected by the advance of destruction of native forests. With 100 soccer fields torn out of the reserve, the IT was second only to the home of the Karipuna indigenous, a native people living in Rondônia.

“Deforestation, besides compromising the maintenance of natural resources, also puts at risk the security of traditional peoples who depend on the forest, such as, for example, the Quilombolas and indigenous peoples”, defends the specialist and researcher from Imazon.

Urgency

Changing the scenario is a necessity, in the view of the specialists of the Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon the AI calculations, developed by the organization in partnership with Microsoft, has a lot to contribute. The platform has a 75% assertiveness rate in its predictions, and all alerts issued by it have materialized within a radius of up to 4 kilometers.

“We are entering a period that is considered the driest, where rainfall is usually less intense and deforestation tends to reach higher levels. In order to avoid the advance of destruction in the Legal Amazon, in these coming months, it is necessary to invest in enforcement actions, prioritizing, especially, those areas that are under greater pressure in relation to deforestation,” warned, finally, Larissa Amorim.