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An aerial view of area that was consumed by a man-made fire to clear land near Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. /CFP
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by more than 66 percent last month from July 2022, officials said Thursday, crediting President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's push to protect the world's biggest rainforest.
July typically marks the start of peak deforestation season, with the onset of drier weather in the Amazon -- making the drop all the more significant, as Brazil prepares to host a summit next week on the rainforest, a key buffer against climate change.
Environment Minister Marina Silva said the numbers showed the Lula government's deforestation crackdown was paying off, after years of surging destruction.
"Impunity for environmental crimes is no longer the rule. That means those responsible for those crimes now think twice before committing them," she told a news conference.
Satellite monitoring by the national space agency's DETER surveillance program detected 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of forest cover destroyed in the Brazilian Amazon in July, officials said.
That was a five-year low, down sharply from 1,487 square kilometers in July 2022.
Since veteran leftist Lula took over from far-right agribusiness ally Jair Bolsonaro in January, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen by 42.5 percent from the same period last year.
Lula campaigned on a pledge to reverse the dismantling of environmental agencies under Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who presided over an increase of more than 75 percent in average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon versus the previous decade.
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Copyright © 2023 CGTN. 京ICP备16065310号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466