Amazon deforestation drops by 46%, but Congress is a threat, says the Climate Observatory

Brasil de Fato

In the last 12 months, the Legal Amazon recorded the smallest deforested area since 2016, according to data of the Deter-B system, from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE, in Portuguese), released on Wednesday afternoon (7). The drop was 46% compared to the previous period.

According to Marcio Astrini’s assessment, the executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, monitoring actions are the main factor in curbing deforestation. “The government has resumed field operations and put laws into practice, unlike the previous government,” he said.

The expert highlights that the favorable scenario, however, is threatened by the “Destruction Package”, a group of 25 bills and three proposed amendments to the Constitution currently in Congress. 

Among the proposals is Bill 3334/2023, presented by Senator Jaime Bagattoli (Liberal Party), which provides for reducing the legal reserve in forest areas of the Legal Amazon from 80% to up to 50%. Bill 4994/2023 proposes that money from the Amazon Fund be earmarked for work on the BR-319 highway without proper licensing. The bill was proposed by deputies Maurício Carvalho (Brazil Union), Thiago Flores (Brazilian Democratic Movement) and others. 

“If approved, these bills and amendments will throw the deforestation figures up again,” he warns.

Inpe data were released on Tuesday afternoon in a press conference attended by state ministers Marina Silva (Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change) and Luciana Santos (Ministry of Sciences, Technology and Innovation).

At the event, Marina stressed the need to direct efforts to control devastation in the Cerrado biome, where deforestation alerts have risen by 9% compared to the previous period. One of the measures developed by her ministry is the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Wildfires in the Cerrado Biome, the PPCerrado (in Portuguese).

“We will work more on implementing the plan so that we reach the same result we had in the Amazon.”