Official figures released on Friday show that deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has dropped to its lowest level since tracking began in 1988, providing a major political boost to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead of an upcoming election run-off.
According to data from Brazil’s national space research agency, Inpe, forest clearance fell by approximately 42 percent over the 12 months leading up to July. During this period, 3,335 square kilometres (1,288 square miles) of forest were cleared, beating the previous record low of 4,571 sq km (1,765 sq miles) set in the 2011-12 period. Annual losses had previously peaked at nearly 30,000 sq km (nearly 11,600 sq miles) in the mid-1990s, according to Inpe’s Prodes satellite programme.
The latest data marks a continued downward trend. Meanwhile, deforestation in the Cerrado savanna, south of the Amazon, also fell by about 24 percent, to 5,517 sq km (2,130 sq miles), the lowest since records began in 2001.