Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon halved in 2023

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by half last year, according to figures released Friday, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government bolstered environmental policing to crack down on surging destruction.

However, the news was far less bright from the crucial Cerrado savanna below the rainforest, where clear-cutting hit a new annual record last year, rising by 43 percent from 2022, according to the national space research agency’s DETER surveillance program.

Satellite monitoring detected 5,152 square kilometers (nearly 2,000 square miles) of forest cover destroyed in the Brazilian Amazon last year, down 50 percent from 2022.

Brazil’s achievement is commendable, however:

Brazil’s Congress Passes Bill to Pave Highway Through Heart of Amazon Rainforest – EcoWatch

Brazil’s lawmakers approved a bill to allow conservation funds to be used to pave a highway through the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

Read the full post at phys.org.