Amazon: 745 million trees lost. NGO, 'data omitted at Cop26'

(ANSA) - BRAZIL, NOV 22 - The fires and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon have caused the loss of 745 million trees in the last year, according to a calculation by specialists, who have stated that these data have not been presented by the government at COP26 in Glasgow .

    Between August 2020 and July 2021, 13,235km2 of forest were destroyed, says the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). Researcher Tasso Azevedo, of the NGOMapBiomas, has calculated that the destroyed area is equivalent to 745 million fewer trees, reports the newspaper O Globo.

    The Inpe report was released last Friday, but the information had been in the government's possession since late October, according to Institute officials.

    "The data has been omitted by the international community and by COP26," said Carlos Rittl, an expert on unsustainability.

    "Government representatives went to Glasgow and signed the Forest Protection Declaration: they knew they had the worst news in the world and didn't give it," added Rittl.

(HANDLE).