Deforestation falls in the Cerrado and Amazon in January – 02/09/2024 – Environment
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Deforestation alerts fell in January both in the Amazon, which is on a downward trend, and in the Cerrado, which had been breaking monthly deforestation records for four consecutive months.
The data comes from the Deter system, from Inpe (National Institute for Space Research) and was released this Friday (9).
In January, 118.8 km² of native vegetation were lost in the Amazon, a 29% drop compared to the same month last year, when the index was 166.5 km².
In the Cerrado, 295.9 km² of deforestation were recorded this year, a 33% reduction compared to January 2023, when the rate reached 440.5 km². Since July 2023, this is the first month in which numbers in the biome show an improvement compared to the same period of the previous year.
In January, the rates also improved compared to December, with a drop of 32% in the Amazon and 35% in the Cerrado.
The beginning of the year usually sees an improvement in deforestation numbers, as the rainy season in both regions makes it difficult to clear the forest. The greater incidence of clouds also makes it difficult for the satellites that feed Deter to capture images.
In the Cerrado, cloud coverage recorded by Inpe reached 39%, while in the Amazon it was 31%. Therefore, it is possible that deforested areas that have not been registered now will be recorded in the coming months.
Deter maps and issues deforestation alerts with the aim of guiding actions by Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) and other inspection bodies. The results represent an early warning, but they are not the complete picture of deforestation.
The official numbers are from another Inpe system, Prodes, which is more accurate and released annually.
In November, Prodes data showed that, from August 2022 to July 2023, 9,001 km² of Amazon forest were lost, a reduction of 22.3% compared to the previous period. In the same period, the cerrado lost 11,011.6 km² of native vegetation, representing an increase of 3%.
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