The Brazilian government announced that deforestation of the Amazon dropped by 33.6% in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s first six months of his term compared to the first six months of 2022.
The rainforest shrank by 2 649 sq km between January and June 2023, while in the same period last year, it shrank by 3 988 sq km.
Picture: Unsplash
The BBC says that ‘Lula has pledged to end deforestation, or forest clearance, by 2030.’ Although he still ‘faces a huge challenge to achieve this target, as the area of rainforest still reported to be lost under his rule is more than three times the size of New York City.’
‘Lula decreed six new indigenous reserves, banning mining and restricting commercial farming.’ He has also been working to convince the world’s richest nations to invest in initiatives to save the rainforest.
Picture: Getaway Gallery
The Amazon rainforest is necessary for helping combat climate change and is known as the ‘lungs of the world’ due to how much carbon dioxide it absorbs and oxygen it releases. However, deforestation of the rainforest has risen at an alarming rate.
Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research presented the new satellite data on Thursday, 6 July, and told reporters that they had reached a downward trend in the Amazon’s deforestation. June saw a record drop of 41% in forest clearance in comparison to June 2022.
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