2023 forest loss in Brazil lowest for eight years

Brazil lost 36 percent less primary forest in 2023 than in 2022, according to new data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) lab, published on Thursday.

The decline meant that last year saw Brazil hit its lowest level of primary forest loss since 2015.

The Amazon experienced the largest decline, with 39 percent less primary forest loss in 2023 than in the previous year. 

According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), which published the data, “this is largely consistent with official government figures, which found a 22 percent decrease in Amazonian deforestation” in the period from August 2022 to July 2023.

Conversely, the Cerrado and Pantanal biomes saw increased forest loss in 2023. The Cerrado savanna is the epicenter of Brazil’s agricultural production.

The reduction in Amazonian forest loss, the WRI adds, coincides with the transition of government leadership from former President Jair Bolsonaro to the current administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

João Paulo Capobianco, Brazil’s deputy environment minister, said last year that the Lula administration is responsible for reducing deforestation, as it increased the number and aggressiveness of operations by federal environmental agency Ibama. 

This includes the destruction of boats, aircraft, and machinery used by wildcat miners and illegal cattle ranchers, which was halted during the Bolsonaro administration. An article published in Nature, led by Brazilian scientist Luciana Gatti, showed that increased carbon emissions in the Amazon in the first half of Mr. Bolsonaro’s term in 2019-2020 were mainly due to a decline in law enforcement.

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