Written by Karina Miotto*
Tuesday, 04 October 2011 16:15
On October 3rd, the Environment Minister, Izabella Teixeira, met with the press to report the numbers of deforestation in the Amazon according to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). The data used are from the Deter system, which is taken monthly, and regards August 2011. Compared to the same period last year, deforestation has fallen by 38%. According to the Ministry of Environment (MMA), "it was history’s lowest August." In 2010, deforestation is said to have been of 265 km ². This year, it was of 164 km ².
The information, however, differs from what was recently released by the Forest Transparency Bulletin of the Institute of Man and Environment in the Amazon (Imazon). According to the Institute, which produces its analysis based on the Deforestation Alert System (SAD), the deforestation in August this year in the Amazon was of 240 km², a 15% increase over the same month in 2010 (209 km²).
| According to Inpe, Mato Grosso was the state with the higher rate of deforestation between January and August 2011 (769 km²), followed by Rondônia (599 km²) and Pará (453 km²). In a statement, the Ministry of Environment said that deforestation has now a different characteristic; up to 2004 it was done in large scale whereas it is now done in small areas. |
"In our report, deforestation increased by 15% and forest degradation decreased by 92% in August this year because there were not much forest fires. Inpe’s system, Deter, does not distinguishes shallow cutting from deforestation, they are both regarded as deforestation, there is no separation. Therefore the difference in data”, said Sanae Hayashi, a researcher at Imazon.
Correction
The Inpe also announced a correction in the Prodes’ annual figures regarding deforestation between July 2009 and August 2010; with a deforested area of 7,000 km² (as opposed to 6,451 km²). Despite the correction for a higher number it still means 6.2% less deforestation than in the previous period. "The Guardians of the Amazon project, through the Operação Disparada, took civil action against deforestation in Boa do Acre, in Amazonas; in Sinop, in Mato Grosso and in Novo Progresso, São Felix do Xingu and Redemption, in Pará. There were 72,490 hectares embargoed, 55 sawmills closed, 3,148 notices of violation and fines amounting to more than 500 million dollars. They seized 28 ships, 226 trucks, 127 tractors and 40 thousand cubic meters of wood. “This all resulted in the decline in deforestation", the press centre of MMA said by telephone. Prodes’ numbers regarding this year should be released between late October and early November.
*
with collaboration from Anderson Costa
