(Bloomberg) -- Annual deforestation of the Amazon rainforest jumped the most in over a decade, rekindling criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro's environmental policies.
Just under 10,000 square kilometers (6,200 square miles) of the so-called Amazonia legal was cut down between August 2018 and July 2019 according to the Prodes measure, which provides an official annual estimate of deforestation. The number, released by Brazil's National Institute of Space Research (INPE), represents an increase of almost 30% from the previous year and marks the third-highest advance of deforestation since the series began.
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Pictures of the rainforest burning drew global attention in August, with world leaders and celebrities weighing in on the need to protect the Amazon as fires jumped amid a particularly dry climate and what critics say is a too lax environmental policy. In a press conference on Monday morning, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said that the government had a “zero tolerance approach to criminality.” Questioned over Bolsonaro's criticism of the fines issued by environmental agencies, Salles said that the rise in deforestation had nothing to do with the president's speeches but derived from a lack of funds for monitoring illegal activity in the region.
Deforestation carries a direct economic cost. The 1.8 billion reais ($446 million) Amazon Fund, created to raise donations to combat deforestation, uses the Prodes number as a reference to determine the disbursement of cash to sustainability projects in the region. Both Norway and Germany, the two main international contributors to the fund, have already suspended their contributions over the Brazilian government's environmental policies.
“The government is throwing away practically all the work done over the past decade to protect the environment,” said Cristiane Mazzetti, who leads the campaign for the Amazon at Greenpeace, an NGO the government often clashes with. “The trend is for the destruction to only increase from here.”
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Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed data showing a rise in deforestation, asserting simultaneously that the rainforest belongs to Brazil and that it requires economic development to benefit those who live in the region. The president also supports freeing up indigenous and environmental reserves for mining. In August he fired the director of INPE, Ricardo Galvao, over the institute's preliminary numbers showing an increase in logging in the Amazon.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bruce Douglas in Brasilia Newsroom at bdouglas24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Julia Leite
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