RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Deforestation alerts in the Legal Amazon in June reached 1,061 km², the fourth record-breaking month since the beginning of the Deter-B series, from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), created in 2016.
The rate for the first six months of 2021, in deforestation alerts, shows 3,610 km² of open areas, an increase of 17% over the 3,081 km².recorded in the same period of 2020.
The expansion is of concern because it will cause a continuing high level of forest destruction. Although the difference in alerts in June 2021 with the same month in 2020 is small (1.8%), the level is high.
The accumulated 6-month figure for this year is higher than prior ones. In the 11- month aggregate of Deter alerts from August 2020 to June 2021, is slighltly lower: 7,295 km2 compared to 7,557 km2 in the same period ending June 2020. The dynamics of deforestation are the most intense since 2016.
INPE lacks the data for July in order to close the official deforestation year measured by the Prodes system, which runs from August to July each year. The feeling, for now, is of a certain stability in deforestation, but with the curve at its peak.
The state of Pará again topped the data from the deforestation alerts with 438 km2. This is almost double that of Amazonas state, with 220 km². Until a few years ago, Amazonas did not appear in the ranking of the most deforested states, by proportion of land area. It has now become a critical area for deforestation.