Brazil: Deforestation of the Amazon forest continues at record levels

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Rainforest Destruction in Brazil (2019)

Photo: Ricardo Moraes / REUTERS

In the Brazilian Amazon region, 1,180 square kilometers of rainforest were cleared in May alone.

This is a little more than the total area of ​​Hong Kong.

It's the third month in a row that Amazon forest deforestation has peaked, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) on Friday.

In addition, the deforested area in May was over 1000 square kilometers for the first time since recording began.

With a share the size of Western Europe, Brazil has a large part of the Amazon region, which extends over nine Brazilian states and is considered to be a CO₂ storage tank. The South American country is therefore assigned a key role in climate protection. The US climate commissioner John Kerry recently made Brazil responsible in the fight against climate change and to preserve the Amazon region.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is in favor of opening up the Amazon to economic exploitation.

He is accused of having created a climate in which farmers feel increasingly encouraged to land for agricultural use.

At the same time, environmental and control authorities were deliberately weakened.

Illegal gold mining is also increasingly destroying indigenous areas.

He is often at the beginning of a chain, followed by lumberjacks and ranchers.

mjm / dpa