Deforestation levels in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new record for January.
Highlights
- Deforestation levels in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new record for January just three weeks into the year.
- Nearly 360 square kilometres of forest cover – an area more than six times the size of Manhattan – were destroyed in the Amazon from 1 January to 21 January.
- Deforestation has surged since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.
- He has pushed to open protected rainforest lands to agribusiness and mining.
- Environmentalists say that translated into a high risk that 2022 would be another devastating year for the Amazon.
- In comparison, deforestation for January 2021 was 83 square kilometres – less than one-fourth the figure for the first 21 days of January 2022.