Deforestation in Amazon drops as protected areas increase

06/19/2012 - 15h32

Brazil has seen a decrease in the rate of deforestation of the Amazon in recent years, after reaching its peak in 2004. The area of forest being burned has also gone down during this period. At the same time, there has been an increase in the area of land that has environmentally protected status, and air pollution is increasing at a slower pace.

This data comes from the Sustainable Development Indicators 2012 research project, which was released on Monday by IBGE, the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics.

After its peak in 2004 of 27,000 square kilometers, the deforestation of the Amazon continued to fall until it reached just 6,000 square kilometers in 2011.

The number of conservation areas increased from 157 to 750 between 1992 and 2011, when 750,000 kilometers squared were added to the total. There was improvement in almost half of the 62 environmental, social and economic indicators.

Translated by ANNA EDGERTON