The Brazilian Space Research Agency recorded the removal of 13,235 square kilometers of the world’s largest rainforest in its satellite data, an area nearly 17 times the size of New York City.
The official data covers the period from August 2020 to July 2021.
The increase comes despite Bolsonaro’s efforts to show his government is serious about preserving the Amazon, an indispensable bulwark against climate change.
However, Bolsonaro, who is of the far right, continues to call for increased mining and farming for commercial purposes in protected parts of the Amazon.
At the UN climate summit in Glasgow COP26, the Brazilian government brought forward the date by which it pledged to end deforestation by two years to 2028, a target that would require a significant annual reduction in the illegal practice.
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