The Amazon rainforest is being destroyed at an increasingly rapid rate, according to an annual study of satellite measurements conducted by the Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
In late November, INPE released data showing that nearly 8,000 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest were lost to clear cutting between August 2015 and July 2016. The loss was 29 percent greater than the year before, when 6,207 square kilometers were cleared – largely as the result of clear cutting for crops, cattle-raising and illegal logging operations.
The increased rate of deforestation over the past two years is particularly worrisome because it represents a reversal of a decreasing trend that began in 2004 when the Brazilian government implemented anti-deforestation policies.