November registers a 19% drop in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Deforestation in the Amazon Region recorded a drop of 19%, compared to the same period in 2020. The data from the Deter-B system (Deforestation Detection in Real-Time) from the Space Research Institute (Inpe) were presented on Tuesday (14) by the Minister of Environment, Joaquim Leite.

During a press conference, accompanied by the Minister of Justice and Public Safety, Anderson Torres, Leite highlighted that November recorded the smallest area of deforestation alerts in the Amazon since the beginning of the historical series in 2016.

There were 249 square kilometers (km²) of Amazon forests with destruction warnings. From January to November, deforestation has already accumulated 8,142 square kilometers. Even without the December data, this is already the third-largest annual accumulation, behind only that recorded in 2020 and 2019.

In Joaquim Leite’s assessment, the drop in deforestation alerts in November results from integrated work between the Ministries of Environment, Defense, and Justice with environmental agencies, the Federal Police, and the National Public Security Force.

The area deforested in the Legal Amazon between August 2020 and July 2021 was 13,235 km², an increase of 22% compared to the previous period.

Since March, Torres has been in charge of the Justice portfolio when he replaced André Mendonça. Joaquim Leite was appointed Minister of the Environment in June after Ricardo Salles resigned. He could not comment on previous administrations, Anderson Torres celebrated the results. “I talk about our management,” he said. “We are coming to show that the work done from our arrival in the government and the Ministry of Environment and Justice is already bringing positive results. This is a fact,” he highlighted.

“The numbers now, from this new period, August, September, October, November, show a 12% reduction, this means that we are in the right direction in relation to the numbers so that we can reach our goal, which is to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2028”, he added.

The Environment Minister also promised more decisive government action in relation to environmental crimes. “The results are starting to appear in these last four months, and we must act in a more forceful and integrated way, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defense, and Ministry of Environment, to achieve the goals that we all want. The federal government will act strongly in relation to environmental crimes”, guaranteed Leite.

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