Deforestation in the Amazon Grows 28% in One Year, Says Note from Ibama Employees
Calculation appears in document from 600 employees delivered to the president of the agency and vice president Mourão
In a letter sent to the president of Ibama, Eduardo Bim, and the president of the Council of the Amazon, Vice President Hamilton Mourão, more than 600 civil servants of the agency warned of a 28% increase in consolidated deforestation in the Amazon between August 2019 and July 2020—compared to the same period in 2018-2019. Ibama has 2,944 active employees, according to the transparency portal.
The estimate was made based on Deter's detections, the INPE monitoring system, in the last five years, which had already revealed a 49.7% increase in deforestation in the region between August 2018 and July 2019 compared to the previous period (2017-2018).
Compared to the figures for 2017-2018, the last period of Michel Temer's (MDB) administration, the increase in deforestation in the Amazon in the first year of full management by Jair Bolsonaro (without a party), whose calendar began in July 2019, may arrive at 72%.
From August 2019 to July 9, 2020, with 21 days remaining to end the period of measurement of consolidated deforestation, the increase has already been 13.7% to 2018-2019, according to Ascema.
The entity estimates that, even if there is a sharp drop in deforestation in the last days of July, this scenario is unlikely to be reversed.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon